Healthcare Leaders Call for Government Control of Drug Prices

Healthcare Leaders Call for Government Control of Drug Prices

The biggest pushback against the Affordable Care Act is an ideological one: keeping the government out of health care so that Americans don’t end up with a ”socialist” health system. Now, a new industry report finds that almost all of the country's top healthcare leaders favor the government taking a bigger role in curbing the rising cost of prescription drugs. 

The reason is a bottom line one: almost all admit that the recent two-year rapid rise in drug prices has hurt their profits. Ninety percent report that increasing drug costs are undermining their finances. Almost half said that the financial impact is “very negative.” 

The healthcare leaders were responding to the latest CEO Power Panel survey published by Modern Healthcare. The CEO Power Panel includes the leaders of 100 hospital systems, insurance companies, large physician practices, trade groups and not-for-profits. Their proposed solution to this problem may be surprising: 86 percent are in favor of giving the federal government the authority to control drug prices on behalf of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Sounds like top line rhetoric is getting a bottom line reality check. I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.