OPINION:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent, likes to fancy himself one of the only independent voices and minds in Congress. He parades himself around as a public servant that wants nothing more than to weed out corruption and provide wins for Main Street.
Unfortunately, however, when it comes to Big Pharma, he’s just another mud-covered politician in the swamp.
Just months ago, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist told Rolling Stone that “the pharmaceutical industry charges the American people, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs” — “charging us outrageous prices while often getting assistance from the federal government.” But now, Mr. Sanders, the chairman of the Senate health committee, is paradoxically doing the very thing he told the magazine he detests — bailing out Big Pharma at our expense.
Last week, he announced a deal with his colleagues that would bring a bill called the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act for committee consideration this week. As a former member of Congress that’s all too familiar with the lobbying world, I find it laughable that he, of all people, is championing this legislation. Why? Because no one wants this bill passed more than America’s drug wholesalers, who are squarely responsible for the high prices we see at the pharmacy counter today.
Three drug wholesalers — Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and McKesson Corp. — control and distribute over 90% of the country’s drugs. With virtually no one else to purchase drugs from, pharmacies normally have no choice but to pay their absurd prices.
On the other hand, pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, the groups Mr. Sanders’ bill is targeting, do the opposite. They work with companies, insurance companies and health plans — which obviously have every reason to want cheap drugs — to keep costs low. They do this by negotiating with and obtaining bulk pricing discounts from the wholesalers.
But although former Trump economist Casey Mulligan found PBMs provide us $145 billion in value every year, Mr. Sanders wants to use government force to heavily regulate them just as Big Pharma wants.
It’s incredible that Mr. Sanders, the so-called enemy of Wall Street and monopolies, is choosing to side with the big drug wholesalers over their challengers, but here we are.
These three companies have net worth valuations of over $20 billion, making them three of the top 15 wealthiest companies in the country. So why is the good socialist helping Big Pharma get another one over on us? Well, the money trail may tell us a story here.
While Mr. Sanders was quick to reject publicly a campaign contribution from “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli years ago, the hedge fund manager who infamously inflated the cost of Daraprim, he’s had no problem taking tens of thousands of dollars from individuals affiliated with the three drug wholesalers that have a vested interest in the bill he’s selling.
Perhaps Mr. Sanders hasn’t realized the harm they’ve caused to the American people. Or perhaps he is fully aware of the carnage but knows they don’t have the name recognition required to generate the negative media attention he would receive from taking their money.
Either way, by moving this bill, he has swamp mud all over his face, and everyone paying attention knows it.
So much for being the people’s senator.
• Tim Huelskamp represented Kansas’ 1st Congressional District from 2011 to 2017.
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