Hillary Clinton took direct aim at the pharmaceutical industry on Tuesday, unveiling a sweeping plan to curb the rising costs of prescription medication. Drug makers that charge exorbitant prices for a single pill, she said, are “bad actors making a fortune off of people’s misfortune.” “It has gotten to the point where people are being asked to pay not just hundreds, but thousands of dollars for a single pill,” the Democratic front-runner said at an Iowa campaign rally. “And I can tell you that is not the way the market is supposed to work.” Clinton’s multi-pronged solution focuses on shifting both supply and demand in favor of consumers. She wants to: prevent companies from keeping cheaper, generic alternatives off the market; force drug companies that receive taxpayer support to invest more in R&D; place a monthly $250 cap on how much insurers could charge people to pay out of pocket for specialty drugs; allow the federal government to negotiate lower prices for patients on Medicare; allow patients to fill their prescriptions with drugs from Canada, where medication is often cheaper; and prevent drug makers from deducting the cost of TV ads. The proposal—which shares more than a few similarities with a plan already put forward by Bernie Sanders, as well as one released last week by a liberal policy think tank with close ties to the Obama administration—comes with a distinct populist pitch. It also comes at an incredibly opportu
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