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The Politics Guys

Medicare Drug Price Negotiations, Should McConnell Retire?

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.4783 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2023

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike and May open the episode with a look at the initial drugs selected for Medicare drug price negotiations, a very popular policy made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. May isn’t a fan of the program, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will save the government nearly $100 billion over a decade. She argues that it will stifle innovation and that the so-called negotiations are little more than government price setting. Mike sees things differently, believing that this gives Medicare the ability to negotiate that it should have had long ago. Mike and May agree in their view of the American health system as a big mess filled with perverse incentives. Then they turn to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s recent on-camera freeze-up – the second in little more than a month. They discuss if McConnell should retire, what happens if he does, the best method to fill Senate vacancies (it’s not the method most states use), and whether it’s time to take a serious look at age and term limits for Congress. (And maybe age limits for the president too.) That sets Mike off on a semi-rant about the 10th Amendment. May generally agrees with him, but she’s less emotionally invested in it than Mike, who has a strangely deep attachment to the 10th. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo we’re @PoliticsGuys.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Is crypto perfect? Nope. But neither was email when it was invented in 1972.

0:05.9

And yet today, we send 347 billion emails every single day.

0:12.0

Crypto is no different. It's new. But like email, it's also revolutionary.

0:17.5

With Crackin, it's easy to start your crypto journey with 24-7 support when you need it.

0:22.6

Go to crackin.com and see what crypto can be.

0:25.3

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.

0:27.2

This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

0:30.9

Atheists, agnostics, long-haired widows, short-haired widows, vand-roll.

0:35.4

I love the government, hug the government. Love the government.

0:38.6

The government.

0:39.5

Love the government.

0:42.0

Welcome to the politics, guys,

0:43.6

a place for bipartisan, rational, and civil debate on American politics and policy.

0:47.8

I'm Michael Baranowski, Professor of Political Science at Northern Kentucky University.

0:52.0

I'm joined today by my conservative counterpart, attorney and former

0:55.1

deputy assistant to President Trump, May Mailman. Hey, it's good to be back. Yeah, I am glad to have you

1:02.6

back. I'm looking forward to yet another interesting week. It seems like they're all interesting

1:08.8

weeks just for different reasons.

1:16.0

But as usual, there is a lot we have to talk about.

1:28.5

I mean, we'll get into Medicare price negotiations and the story of Senator McConnell and that unfortunate freeze up and what that might mean.

1:33.4

Donald Trump's trial dates and how they affect or may not affect, I don't know,

1:38.8

the Republican primary process, the Republican presidential race in general,

...

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