“Populist” Republicans come out swinging on behalf of Big Pharma

Created
Wed, 30/08/2023 - 09:30
Updated
Wed, 30/08/2023 - 09:30
If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t believe it: As President Joe Biden touts the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price talks, Republicans are searching for their own message that would resonate with voters on the downsides of his signature domestic achievement. Piggybacking on the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy, Republicans are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, several strategists say. “The price control is a huge departure from where we have been as a country,” said Joel White, a Republican health care strategist. “It gets politicians and bureaucrats right into your medicine cabinet.” However, the effort to reframe the drug price debate comes as Democrats prepare to run on the issue up and down the ballot next year against a Republican Party unlikely to cede any ground with campaign attacks and more likely to focus on the border and inflation. A new poll from nonprofit KFF shows that 58 percent of independent voters trust Democrats to lower drug costs compared with 39 percent of Republicans. “If they want to run their campaigns based on keeping the profits of the drug companies high, welcome,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told POLITICO. “Why don’t they go for it and see how well President Biden does because people are going to understand that seniors want to see less expensive drugs I’m sure the cult will fall in line even if they are eating cat food because they can’t afford their prescriptions. But the GOP plant to…