The nasty socialist plan to lower drug costs | Moran

Kamala Harris, they say, is a socialist. Get used to it, because this fall it will be on your television.

But what exactly do its critics mean by socialism?

We got a first glimpse of that on Thursday, when Harris joined President Biden in announcing lower prescription drug prices for seniors in the Medicare program. This came after Democrats voted in 2022 to use the power of the federal government to negotiate lower prices with big pharmaceutical companies.

This is the government we are supposed to hate.

Republicans fought the idea for decades, and when it finally came to a vote, not a single Republican in the House or Senate supported it. Earlier this year, Senator Mitch McConnell condemned the program, saying, “The simple truth is that socialism doesn't work.”

There's that word again. From what I understand, they're really against using the power of government to protect those who need help. Progressive taxes, food stamps, and Social Security have all been condemned as socialist over the years.

It suggests a stark difference between the two parties, a split that runs exactly along party lines.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., the only Republican defending a swing seat in New Jersey this fall, was a staunch opponent of the measure in the last election, marching in lockstep with the MAGA clique as usual.

I called him to ask him how he was going to explain this to the seniors in his district, but he hid in an unknown place and refused to talk. (That's just his life, he's scared like a mouse. That's why so many people call him “Junior”)

Kean's opponent, Democrat Sue Altman, supports the program. We will hear more about that in the fall.

No one has responded better to the accusation that the Democrats are out-of-control leftists than vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who has been accused of running Minnesota like a socialist summer camp.

“The children are eating and have full bellies so they can learn, and the women are making their own decisions about their health care,” he said. “The fact is,” where democratic policies are implemented, “the quality of life is higher, the economy is better … the level of education is better.”

“So, yes, my kids will eat here, and you'll have the chance to go to college, and you'll have the opportunity to live where we're working to reduce carbon emissions. Oh, and by the way, you'll have a higher personal income, and you'll have health insurance. So if they want to put me in that box, I'll gladly take that box.”

Let's get back to this new drug cost-cutting program that McConnell calls socialist. Drug prices in America are about three times higher than in our peer countries. And a major reason for that is because when Medicare was expanded to cover drug costs under President George W. Bush, drug industry lobbyists made sure the government was legally prevented from negotiating lower prices, no matter how big their profits were.

No other country does this, perhaps because it's crazy. Yes, this needs to be carefully addressed. American pharmaceutical companies spend more on research and development than any other country, and many of these drugs save lives and money. So these negotiations are not aimed at making life difficult for our pharmaceutical companies, but only at stopping them from using their patent protection to make life difficult for consumers.

And negotiators were indeed cautious. None of the companies affected by this week's price cuts lost stock value after the fact, and their own executives assured shareholders that sales would remain strong. And don't forget that federal data shows that some large companies spend more on advertising, executive pay and stock buybacks than on drug research.

“That's why you have these different rebates,” says Rep. Frank Pallone, who played a key role in these reforms as former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which drafted many of the terms. “Some of them are 20 percent rebates, some are 50 percent rebates.”

And there will be more socialism: next year, drug costs for seniors will be capped at $2,000 per year. And since last year, insulin costs for seniors have been capped at $35 per month.

“Republicans will want to take all this back,” Pallone says.

If that's socialism, I guess I'm a socialist. And so are the 83 percent of Americans who support the program, including 71 percent of Republicans, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

If Republicans have a better argument against it than shouting about socialism, it's high time they made it. Otherwise, they're going to get beaten hard on this issue in November. And for good reason.

More: Columns by Tom Moran

You can reach Tom Moran at [email protected] or (973) 986-6951. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

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