|
 Klobuchar's proposal, which is also designed to invest in research
for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and improving the stability of
Social Security, would allow the government to negotiate Medicare
Part D costs, which cover prescriptions for seniors.
Klobuchar, a U.S. senator from Minnesota, would also allow people to
order prescription drugs from countries like Canada, a proposal
proponents say would lower costs.
Healthcare costs have become a central point of contention in the
presidential election. The more than two dozen Democrats vying to
challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020
election have argued they would improve healthcare costs.
Some, like U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, have called for a complete
government take over of the nation's health care system.
Trump has also made lowering healthcare costs a central goal of his
administration and key message in his re-election bid.
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But on Thursday his administration scrapped one of its most
ambitious proposals for lowering prescription medicine prices,
backing down from a policy aimed at health insurers and raising the
possibility of new measures focused on drugmakers.
The abandoned proposal would have required health insurers to pass
billions of dollars in rebates they receive from drugmakers to
Medicare patients.
In addition to her drug price proposal, Klobuchar also called for
raising the amount of wages subject to Social Security taxation.
Currently, the payroll tax that funds Social Security is applied
only to the first $133,000 in wages a taxpayer earns. Klobuchar is
proposing also applying the payroll tax to wages above $250,000.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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