Undoing the ban is the linchpin of President Joe Biden’s healthcare agenda. It would mean lower costs, with savings put into things such as dental coverage for retirees.
As a participant in Medicare’s prescription drug program, Florida retiree Donna Weiner would like to pay less for her medicines, which cost her about $6,000 a year.
And as a retired accountant who spent 50 years handling the books for companies, she sees a way to get there.
“You know from working in a business that it makes no sense for an administrator of a plan or a company not to be involved in what they have to pay out,” said Weiner, who lives in Longwood, Florida, near Orlando.
For Medicare “to negotiate those prices down would be thousands of dollars back in my pocket every year,” she said.