to initiate legislation to enable Medicare and Medicaid officials to negotiate prices paid for drugs and medical devices

In a recent special report in Time magazine ("Bitter Pill: How outrageous pricing and egregious profits are destroying our health care," March 4, 1013) author Steven Brill points out that federal law prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from negotiating prices that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pay for drugs and medical devices. Sweetheart legislation that benefits pharmaceutical companies and medical appliance manufacturers fix unnecessarily high prices for these products, costing American taxpayers billions of dollars annually through Medicare and Medicaid payments. Please initiate legislation to reduce the federal budget by enabling the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices it pays for drugs and medical devices.