price controls into the private insurance sector, allowing private insurance companies to parrot Medicare’s “negotiated” prices.
But bleeding price mandates into the private sector would be a dangerous government overreach and an attack against the free market. It would not just be yet another step toward full-on socialized medicine — it would be a massive leap. America’s competitive free market and natural incentives to innovate are the reasons the United States has led the world in developing new treatments and cures. Without these fertilizers for innovation, companies would be unable to invest in the painstaking trial-and-error process that creates new drugs for patients who are waiting for them.
Instead of pushing for a policy that endangers the system that makes American medical innovation second to none, the government ought to be looking for ways to expand the free market’s success by taking on bad actors exploiting the ecosystem. Reining in the monopolistic practices of pharmacy benefit managers, for instance, would be an obvious first step.
The reasons H.R. 4895’s ill-advised expansion into private insurance plans would level innovation are simple. Arbitrary price caps would remove a key cornerstone of revenue manufacturers rely on to make a future of better treatments and cures a reality. Drugmakers have already sounded the