Pelosi: Drug industry profits from Medicare are ripping off taxpayers

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http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/163501-pelosi-drug-industry-profits-from-medicare-are-ripping-off-taxpayers

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the profits reaped by the pharmaceutical industry under Medicare's prescription drug benefit are "a rip-off of the taxpayer."

The California Democrat renewed the call to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of seniors, which is forbidden under current law. But with Republicans controlling the House, that proposal has scant chance of moving far this Congress.

"There's savings to be had by negotiating those drug prices and addressing how Medicare reimbursement takes place for drug benefits," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. "This is a rip-off of the taxpayer, to have the pharmaceutical companies make as much money as they do."