Bernie Sanders on Drug Costs

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/bernie-sanders-drug-costs.html

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Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont frequently assails the cost of prescription drugs, citing the statistic that one in five Americans cannot afford them. He has called for prices to be cut in half.

A Kaiser Health poll from earlier this year found that 24 percent of Americans said it was “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” to afford their prescription drugs.

America spends much more on prescription drugs than comparable wealthy nations.

By 2015, annual spending on prescription drugs in the United States reached about $1,000 per person, accounting for 16.7 percent of overall personal health care spending.

Mr. Sanders argues that drug manufacturers — along with Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry and the health care industry — exhibit the kind of “corporate greed” his campaign wants to take on.

By comparing the profits of big pharma with Americans’ struggle to pay for their products, Mr. Sanders can argue that “unfettered capitalism” benefits the rich and hurts ordinary Americans.

And that’s where Mr. Sanders, as a democratic socialist, thinks he can come to the rescue. The cost of prescription drugs bolsters his case for a “political revolution.”

Lowering drug prices may actually be one legislative goal Republicans and Democrats agree on. But powerful pharmaceutical companies are sure to push back hard if the government tries to regulate them, cut into their profits or increase competition.