Bernie Sanders wants to do Trump one better on drug prices

Last month, the Trump administration startled pharma with a proposal to peg what Medicare pays for certain drugs to the what other countries spend on the same medicines. And now Sen. Bernie Sanders, who spends little of his time agreeing with the president, is pushing to expand on that idea.

A new bill, unveiled yesterday, dovetails with Trump’s idea, using the prices paid in wealthy nations to benchmark what the U.S. should spend on drugs. But the Sanders bill goes well beyond what Medicare pays and instead demands that drug companies lower the prices they charge any U.S. payer to match what overseas governments pay. And companies that refuse would face instant generic competition, regardless of any patents they may hold.

It’s an idea with virtually no chance of getting anywhere in the Republican-controlled Senate, but Sanders echoing a Trump idea is a reminder to the drug industry that the rising cost of medicines is an increasingly bipartisan concern.