Analysis: The Government Hasn’t Reduced Drug Prices Despite Ubiquitous Desire To.

In an analysis, the Kaiser Health News (9/23, Hancock) says lowering the price of medication is a desire shared across party lines, is a growing concern for an increasing number of Americans, and was even one of President Trump’s promises for early-term execution that “might have seemed the easiest to achieve,” yet, as the Times explains, “any momentum to curtail prescription drug costs...has been lost amid rancorous debates over replacing Obamacare and stalled amid roadblocks erected via lobbying and industry cash.” The Times cites iSpot.tv as it says the drug lobby has spent $28 million “to air six ads depicting heroic researchers about 4,600 times on national TV” this year, the first half of which saw $145 million spent on lobbying by the pharmaceutical and health products industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and $4.5 million given to congressional campaigns by drug makers, as found in a Kaiser Health News analysis. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/sunday-review/prescription-drugs-prices.html