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It was politics from a couple decades ago. Medicare historically didn't cover prescription drugs, until Part D was enacted during the Clinton administration. A
by whafro 10y ago
It was politics from a couple decades ago. Medicare historically didn't cover prescription drugs, until Part D was enacted during the Clinton administration.
A tactic to get Republicans to support the measure was to pledge that Medicare wouldn't interfere in the drug market by developing its own formulary – Medicare Part D plan providers would compete for members and negotiate with pharmaceutical companies themselves.
There has been a bunch of talk over the last decade about repealing that particular restriction, but it's never made it over the finish line.
- cowsandmilk 10y ago> until Part D was enacted during the Clinton administration. ???? Medicare Part D came into being in 2003, well into Bush's administration. The whole rest of your post is based around the notion that it was proposed by Clinton, when it was Bush....
- maxerickson 10y agoThe support in the House of Representatives was also mostly Republican: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll332.xml http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll332.xml
- whafro 10y agoTotally, and thanks. I was quick to write and submit my answer and was remembering some debate during the Clinton era. But the noninterference provision was indeed targeted at market-oriented Republicans to get them on board. There were plenty who wanted to ensure that Medicare wasn't going to be eroding the businesses of established payers.
- spikels 10y agoThis history of Part D is so polically distorted it is almost exactly backwards. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/us/bush-medicare-proposal-urges-switch-to-private-insurers.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/us/bush-medicare-propo...