Republican FTC Official Backs Medicare Negotiating Drug Prices (1)

A Republican Federal Trade Commissioner said Medicare should have more power to negotiate drug costs.

Speaking Thursday at a health-care conference, Christine Wilson was asked how the federal government can address situations where there is little competition in drug markets. “I think part of the problem is that the federal government has not been able to negotiate under certain parts of Medicare and Medicaid for pharmaceutical prices,” she said.

The federal government accounting for about a third of pharmaceutical spending “is essentially a price taker, and that seems to be a problem to me,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s remarks stand ...