As part of the “Transparent Drug Pricing Act of 2019”, Senator Scott proposes to set the list price of all medicines to the lowest retail list price among five countries – Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany. This terrible idea is supported by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) whose ultimate goal is a single payer or Medicare for All plan.
Linking U.S. pharmaceutical prices to the prices in other countries – whether it is an index of 14 countries as the Trump Administration suggested or the lowest price of five countries as Senator Scott suggests – is a backhanded way of imposing price controls in the U.S. The only difference being the government would offshore the price controls to other countries instead of setting these prices itself.
Read more: Price Controls Are Never The Answer
