美国国家公共电台 NPR Medicare Should Leverage Buying Power To Pull Down Drug Prices, White House Says

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Let's examine now the contradictory¹ statements the president has made about drug prices. He has said he wants the U.S. government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare, but he's made other statements that seem opposite to that. Here's NPR's Alison Kodjak.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE²: Drug makers³ could be forgiven if they're confused about whether the president thinks the government should get involved in price negotiations⁵. Just a few days before he was sworn in, he made this promise.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP⁶: We're the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don't bid properly. And we're going to start bidding. And we're going to save billions of dollars over a period of time.

KODJAK: But last week, he seemed to walk that back when he met with the leaders of several giant pharmaceutical⁷ companies.

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TRUMP: I'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly⁸ competitive market. That includes price fixing by the biggest dog in the market, Medicare, which is what's happening.

KODJAK: So yesterday, his spokesman, Sean Spicer, cleared up the confusion, for now at least. He was asked whether the president was for Medicare negotiating lower prices.

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SEAN SPICER: He's for it, yes. He wants to make...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He's still for it.

SPICER: Absolutely.

KODJAK: And he went on to say that the U.S. should be doing what other countries do, bring the government's purchasing power to bear to get a better deal.

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SPICER: So his commitment is to make sure that he does what he can and, I think, rather successfully uses his skills as a businessman to drive them down.

KODJAK: But will that actually save money?

WALID GELLAD: There's a reason why the pharmaceutical industry does not want Medicare negotiation⁴ to happen and the obvious reason is because it will lower prices.

KODJAK: That's Walid Gellad, who studies drug pricing and policy at the University of Pittsburgh. He says the key to Trump's plan is for Congress to allow Medicare as a whole to negotiate a good price or walk away. That's already allowed at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

GELLAD: If Medicare were to get the same prices for drugs as in the VA, you'd have billions - tens of billions in dollars of savings⁹.

KODJAK: Today, insurers that handle Medicare prescription¹⁰ coverage¹¹ negotiate separately thanks to a law passed by Congress in 2003. Alison Kodjak, NPR News, Washington.

1 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

8 vibrantly   

参考例句：

• Notice that each center is vibrantly multi-colored with no shade predominating. 注意每个中心是多颜色振动毫无遮蔽控制。
• There are so many reptiles to discover in this vibrantly colored nature book of hide-and-seek. 这本书主要介绍了爬虫类动物如何利用保护色来保护自己。

9 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

10 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。