A vast majority of Americans say the Medicare health program for the elderly should be able to negotiate with drug companies to set lower medication prices, a practice currently prohibited by law, according to a survey released on Friday. The poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 87 percent of people surveyed want Medicare to have the authority to press drug makers for greater discounts. The skyrocketing prices for crucial medicines have hit both health insurers and consumers, who are being asked to cover a higher proportion of their medications’ cost. Efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices have not been successful, due to opposition over government interference in the marketplace. Drug manufacturers say their prices reflect the billions of dollars they spend in research and development, both for treatments that are approved and the many more that fail. Previous Kaiser polls underlined other frustrations over drug costs. A top priority for Americans in April was making drugs affordable for people with chronic conditions like diabetes. In a June poll, 73 percent of participants thought prescription drug prices were unreasonable. Over three-quarters of those people said it was because manufacturers set prices too high.
For the article from Reuters, click here.
