Grandma Loves Overpaying For Prescription Drugs? The GOP's Got Her Covered!

Clearly some people are very into this. Sexually, probably.

This week, several Senate Republicans — Mike Lee (Utah), Marco Rubio (Fla.), James Lankford (Okla.) and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) — introduced a bill aimed at making medications more expensive, and did so with straight faces, like they were doing a great thing that everyone would very much enjoy.

The Protecting Drug Innovation Act would repeal everything in the Inflation Reduction Act related to pharmaceuticals, specifically the part that lets Medicare negotiate drug prices instead of just paying whatever the hell the pharma companies feel like charging — which, by the way, can frequently be much, much higher than their actual retail cost.

“Price controls never work. Instead, they exacerbate the problems they seek to resolve. Mandating fixed prescription drug prices will ultimately result in the shortening of American lives. Instead of repeating past mistakes, it’s time we address what’s driving the cost of prescription medications and adopt a regulatory environment that works to everyone’s advantage,” said Mike Lee in a statement.

Well they seem to be working just fine in (checks notes) practically every other country on earth. I have yet to hear anyone from Europe complain about their medications not costing enough. If anything, they're usually too busy gasping over how much it costs to take an ambulance here in the States.

The thing that is driving the cost of prescription medications is the fact that pharmaceutical companies are very, very greedy — and there's not a good way to change that, outside of perhaps therapy. I'd say it's exacerbated by the fact that practically every other country on earth negotiates their drug prices, but Americans are suckers and they'd probably still overcharge us.

Now, we're not talking about consumer pricing, here — Republicans can rest easy knowing that those of us who are not on Medicare will still be overcharged for drugs in comparison to what people everywhere else are paying. We're talking about Medicare. The gist of this entire theory is that Medicare needs to overpay for pharmaceuticals so that drug companies are able to fund the "innovation" of new drugs.

Let's think about that for a minute, shall we?

If the true purpose of this were "innovation" and not "lining the pockets of pharmaceutical companies," then why are we doing it this particular way? Would it not make sense to negotiate drug prices and then, separately, fund this "innovation?" Pharmaceutical companies could apply for grants, explaining exactly what they'll be using the money for, and then put that towards their research and development. Everything would be on the up and up, no gray areas necessary.

Oh wait! That already happens. Which is how U.S. tax money has funded, in part, the development of every new drug in the last decade. We are already giving them money for this. They want more? Let them apply for more. I'm sure none of us has a problem with giving out more grants to fund the development of new drugs, especially if we can then work it out so that we pay a fair and reasonable price for them.

Let's also not forget that if they just want to enrich themselves, they can always do a GoFundMe. Better them than sick people, I say. They could even get into financial domination . I think there are a lot of Americans with a real kink for making the rich richer.

Of course, the whole "innovation" thing has been a scam from the beginning. Far more of the profits from our overpriced medications go to CEOs and investors than go to research and development, and much of the "research and development" is not in creating new drugs but in filing hundreds of patents in order to keep other companies from making generic versions of their medications.

"Despite Big Pharma's lip service about innovation, many drug companies are not actually spending significant portions of their research-and-development budget to discover innovative new treatments," Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) told reporters in a 2021 conference call. "Instead, these companies are spending their research-and-development dollars on finding ways to game the system."

Personally, I think it's lovely that they are trying this, because if there is anything people love, it is paying more for things than they need to. It's definitely a winning issue for Republicans and they should campaign on it everywhere.

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