I think you're quite right; they never really expected this to go anywhere, but were testing the PR waters/trying to argue the case that government "meddling" w

I think you're quite right; they never really expected this to go anywhere, but were testing the PR waters/trying to argue the case that government "meddling" was causing the price negotiations to stall. That said, I'm sympathetic to the argument that the government's strategy of "Most favored customer" status has not resulted in lower prices, but that the government's poor negotiations have allowed the pharmas to establish that number as a price floor. Drugs are sold for much less in other countries, but cannot be within the US.