Even though between 75 and 85 percent of the public supports letting the federal government negotiate for cheaper drug prices for Medicare, the Senate GOP blocked passage of a measure to do that, when Trent Lott, Charles Grassley, and John Cornyn said the private sector, who all give heavily to the GOP, can do a better job than the government in obtaining cost savings. Having seen the opposite up close in my professional life, I know that the GOP is simply protecting the large campaign contributions they receive from Big Pharma and the HMO industry, by claiming that any such move is the first step towards national health insurance, another item that 64 percent of the public want, and are willing to pay for.

Even though they tried and lost on this vote, Democrats are to blame here for not countering the GOP’s arguments effectively and often. And Democrats waged no national campaign of late on this issue. Yet it now plays into their hands to browbeat the GOP as a captive of Big Pharma and the HMOs in the 2008 election, tied to a push for universal health care that will garner the Democrats millions of votes against vulnerable GOP incumbents next year. And that is probably what the Democrats were planning all along.