The weekend was dotted with articles detailing Big Pharma's readiness to go to war with the Democrats over Medicare prescription drug bargaining, which is really a way of saying the weekend was dotted by articles fed by Pharma's PR firms into the eager and willing hands of newspaper reporters, who are all too pleased to pass on their doom-and-gloom predictions.
Pharma is arguing Medicare's user base is so massive that government negotiation amounts to de facto price controls, which would decrease innovation. So though Pharma accepts such "price controls" from the VA, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Medicaid -- all of who pay far less than Medicare -- innovation cannot sustain the addition of Medicare's patients.
