After decades of effort, and for the first time, the government successfully negotiated drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. For years, the fight to control health care prices, perhaps the most significant factor in health care spending, has felt like an unwinnable battle [against the pharmaceutical industry], so it’s no small feat that Medicare is finally flexing its negotiating muscles. But it’s also a drop in the bucket.  

Imperative Foundation Comment:  The “non-interference clause,” was inserted into Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003, through the lobbying and influence of the pharmaceutical industry.  The “clause” prevented Medicare from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and has cost Medicare about $500 billion since the legislation went into effect in 2006.  The 2022, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allowed Medicare highly limited powers to negotiate on a select few drugs that may save Medicare up to $6 billion in year one; which is a drop in the bucket and a small fraction that could have been saved.