Hillary, today:
You know, I believe that if we did give Medicare the chance to negotiate with drug companies, we would save $10 billion to $15 billion a year.
Quick, somebody tell the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 4 would require the Secretary to negotiate with drug manufacturers the prices that could be charged to PDPs (prescription drug plans) for covered drugs. However, the bill would prohibit the Secretary from requiring a particular formulary and would allow PDPs to negotiate prices that are lower than those obtained by the Secretary. The bill would also require the Secretary to report to the Congress every six months on the results of his negotiations with drug manufacturers.
CBO estimates that H.R. 4 would have a negligible effect on federal spending because we anticipate that the Secretary would be unable to negotiate prices across the broad range of covered Part D drugs that are more favorable than those obtained by PDPs under current law.
Well, I guess she did say that she believed the government would save money, not that she knew it.