When purchasing a new automobile, I prefer to negotiate a price rather than pay the asking price. This is because I am an astute consumer.
A recent letter to the editor in the Valley Journal stated that Medicare Advantage is being reduced by $307 billion and criticized Jon Tester for voting in favor of the measure. “Cut” is a misspelling. In fact, it represents a savings. Medicare can now provide the same or greater coverage to the letter writer while saving the federal government a substantial amount of money. This is beneficial for Medicare.
The federal government is occasionally a savvy consumer as well. Recent legislation was enacted
Legislation permitting Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. This negotiation saves the US government a lot of money. A very large parcel.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates Medicare price negotiations will save the federal government $237 billion over a decade. This is not a Medicare reduction, but a cut to the federal deficit. That’s a win-win situation. Reducing the cost of a service while maintaining the same level of service is a savings, not a reduction.
Consider all the uses for money, including reducing debt, enhancing education, and ensuring national security.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “The law improved Medicare’s drug benefit by addressing high drug prices, a longstanding concern for Medicare beneficiaries, and capping what Medicare beneficiaries pay out of pocket for prescription drugs, in addition to other drug benefit enhancements such as free vaccines and capping insulin copayments.”
That is intelligent procurement by the federal government.