On the campaign trail in 2008, Obama blasted Part D’s ban on negotiating and promised to get tough.
“We’ll tell the pharmaceutical companies: ‘Thanks, but no thanks for overpriced drugs,'” Obama said at a Virginia campaign stop in 2008. “We’ll let Medicare negotiate for lower prices. We’ll stop drug companies from blocking generic drugs that are just as effective and far less expensive. We’ll allow the safe reimportation of low-cost drugs from countries like Canada.”
After all, there was ample evidence that U.S. consumers were being gouged. For example, in France, which negotiates prices, Eli Lilly charged patients $47 for a one-month supply of Cymbalta, a medicine used to treat depression and anxiety. The cost in America was $176.
Pfizer charged Canadians $53 for Celebrex, an anti-inflammatory painkiller. The bill for Americans: $162.