Medicare Isn't a Good Price Negotiator

One out of every three dollars that Medicare spends buys nothing absolutely nothing in terms of better health or greater patient satisfaction it provides zero benefit to patients. Congress just passed a law the inflation reduction act that included some Medicare provisions that would allow the Medicare bureaucracy to say no to certain drugs unless the drug manufacturers bring the prices down. It took 20 years for Congress to create that authority and I favor that authority because that should reduce government spending on these items but this isn't a victory yet as we haven't even seen whether Medicare is actually able to negotiate lower prices.