As stated earlier, Jim Lynch had proposed that bloggers each read one page of the 1502 pages of the Baucus bill, a.k.a. ‘America’s Healthy Future Act 2009’, so here is page 1020:

Page 1020 deals with prescription drug reimbursements to pharmacies or mail order services. Pages 1019-1020 state that the pharmacy or mail order service will be reimbursed by an amount “equal to the difference between the negotiated price of the applicable drug, and the discounted price of the applicable drug.”

This means that the government would be deciding what the price of the drug will be, and then subtracting from that the discounted price, before the pharmacy or mailing service is reimbursed.

Essentially, it is Medicare-type price fixing.

Contrast that with current major medical insurance drug coverage, which covers the full price of the generic drug subject to a deductible and coinsurance, or the full price of the prescription subject to deductible and coinsurance. If you have a health savings account, then you are covered for the full amount of the prescription.

Additionally, page 1020 states that third parties “with a contract under subsection (d)(3) determines that the manufacturer is not in compliance with such agreement, then the third party shall notify the Secretary of such noncompliance for appropriate enforcement.”

As I see it, the pharmaceutical industry, which currently is overregulated to the point that it takes ten years and millions of dollars for a new drug to receive FDA approval before it’s actually marketed, will be subject to more lawsuits, and more expenses, from these “third parties” stoolies complaining that they are not “in agreement.”

Kiss good-bye to new drug research and development. Welcome more inflation on prescription.