As Congress debates how to lower prescription drug costs, a large majority of Americans want the federal government to negotiate with drug makers to reduce prices paid by Medicare, according to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Specifically, 88% of those queried support negotiations to lower Medicare Part D costs, and 85% believe this approach should be pursued for both Medicare and private insurers. The responses included large majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Moreover, 72% support increasing taxes on drug makers that refuse to negotiate with the government; 69% of Republicans agreed with this idea.
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Note that the survey asked about “lower prices” (whatever that means), not lower costs or lower spending.
Oddly, Kaiser never seems to get around asking about lowering prices for the 85% of non-drug U.S. healthcare spending. I wonder why …