Pharmaceutical Corruption How We Subsidize Exorbitant Prices and Unnecessary Risks

"The real money, the money that our almost free-market system uses to sustain corporate profits at the taxpayer’s expense. Pharmaceutical companies get everything from our government—tax breaks, research grants, patent extensions worth billions of dollars. And what do we, the people, get in return? The highest drug prices in the Western Hemisphere. And for some reason, the possibility of an infection in our perineum.

Why would you take a drug that could give you a perineal infection? And why are they telling us about it at dinnertime?

But you know what’s horrible about our system now and the corruption within it? We’re so desensitized that we consider tiny cracks in that exploitation as a victory. The president celebrating the first negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of 10 drugs.

And today, I’m proud to announce that Medicare has reached an agreement with all manufacturers on the 10 drugs selected in the first round of negotiation.

Oh, can it be? The companies we subsidize with billions of dollars are granting us the privilege of negotiating the price of 10 of their drugs. And 10 is all of them, right? It would be embarrassing if it were just a drop in the ocean, and if the American people didn’t expect us to negotiate for all their drugs—because we’ve already paid for them with our subsidies.

I’ll be going to the hospitals.

What we do with pharmaceutical companies is like the worst "Shark Tank" deal in history. Well, we’re asking for billions of dollars of your money. Oh, what do we get? 10% of your company? No. Do we get a discount? No. What do we get? Have you checked your perineum?"