Senator Grassley Slams Democrats’ Plan to Let Medicare Set Rx Costs

(Radio Iowa) U.S. Senate Democrats are advancing a deal that would allow Medicare, the health insurance program for seniors, to negotiate prescription drug costs. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, blasted the idea Wednesday during a stop in Ames.

“If they do it their way, it’s going to have to be completely partisan,” Grassley says. “That’s not the best way to legislate in the United States Senate.” Grassley says Senate Democrats are “completely ignoring” a bill from him and Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden (WYE-den) to decrease prescription drug prices. He says this bill would save seniors 72-billion dollars a year and is bipartisan. Reuters reports the Senate Democrats’ Medicare plan would be part of a package that includes curbing climate change and raising taxes.

(Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)