“The new Democratic Congress hasn’t even begun work and already the pharmaceutical industry — known as Big Pharma in Washington — is attacking the Democrat’s plan to have Medicare use its huge bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. First, Big Pharma says it will amount to government price controls. That’s nonsense. Medicare won’t be setting prices. It will be negotiating them. The Veterans Administration already negotiates drug prices on behalf of its 4.4 million enrollees. Medicaid negotiates on behalf of millions of Medicaid recipients. Why shouldn’t Medicare use its even bigger bargaining clout to get bargains for its nearly 23 million enrollees? Ever hear of bulk discounts? It happens all the time in the free market. Think of Wal-Mart. In fact, Wal-Mart is using its bargaining power to get lower drug prices for its customers. Given its size, Medicare could be getting the biggest bulk discount of them all, and passing the savings on to the nation’s seniors.” (12/01/06)