Make no mistake, Congress and the Biden administration took a sledgehammer to the American healthcare system in 2022. Our reliably robust and world-leading medical technology that brings new treatments and cures to the market will soon be slowed to a trickle, and Americans will realize the extent to which Democrat-controlled Washington sabotaged medical and scientific progress through the one-two punch of tearing down intellectual property (IP) rights and enacting government price controls on medicine. With the proponents of these catastrophic policies still largely controlling the national agenda, the fight to reverse this onslaught against medical innovation is absolutely paramount.
The price controls Congress created in August through the falsely advertised Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) effectively torpedoed the incentives for investment into research and development (R&D) for future lifesaving cures. Biden targeted drug makers for expansive government overreach and control. The IRA enables the government to “negotiate” drug prices, however, penalties for noncompliance with such “negotiations” are so steep that drug manufacturers are compelled to comply.
It is no surprise these policies were sparked by the Democrats’ long-held desire to move us closer to socialized medicine. Price controls allow government to dictate the profits that private companies can receive from their discoveries, an absolutely horrendous idea. The upfront cost of producing a new medication and getting it to the consumer market averages upwards of $3 billion over 15 years. The radical policies of 2022 will of course destroy the incentives for making these critical initial investments. Evidence for this already exists with multiple manufacturers canceling new projects since the IRA’s passage. These are potential life-changing treatments or lifesaving cures that will never make it to patients, and there will be countless more.
An outright attack on IP protections also made 2022 an ominous year for innovation. The Biden administration paved the way for the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) approval of the TRIPS Waiver, which strips patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. Given that a sizable amount of new research is built on previous research, eliminating an inventor’s IP protections will make them think twice before undertaking costly R&D. Nothing will stop innovation dead in the water more than government granting itself the right to commandeer an invention for its own purposes. There is also a continued push to expand the TRIPS Waiver to include COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics. The decision on expansion has been delayed into the new year and so remains a looming threat to innovators in the medical field.
There is no evidence consumers will pay less for medications or have greater access to medications under these socialist policies, in fact the opposite is true. It is no coincidence these restrictions mimic nations with socialized medicine where patients have access to far fewer medications and face greater waiting periods compared to Americans.
As destructive as Washington was toward healthcare in 2022, sadly they are far from satisfied. Drug importation, for example, poses a major threat in 2023 with members from both sides of the aisle renewing calls for this exceptionally dangerous policy — especially since many are produced in China. Flooding the market with potentially counterfeit foreign drugs would not only undercut American innovators, but also severely undermine the safety and quality of our nation’s drug supply in the midst of an epidemic of deadly drug overdoses.
Big government autocrats will also undoubtedly attempt to expand the scope of government price controls and further shackle the free market in healthcare. Proponents of price controls have another trick in their socialist medical bag through a plan to abuse the “march-in” rights granted under the Bayh-Dole Act, which was intended as an emergency measure applicable only in the rarest of circumstances. Like all of the other authoritarian mandates, this proposal could significantly reduce R&D into new drugs and limit Americans’ future access to these treatments.
Elected officials are responsible for protecting Americans, and healthcare policy should be driven by support for innovation, investment, and market-driven advancements in medicine. Price controls and feckless IP protections will decimate medical research and cut patients off from groundbreaking advances just as scientific progress is rapidly accelerating. Those responsible for this lethal assault on our healthcare system must be held accountable, and 2023 must be a year where we stand to protect science and promote innovation that will produce the treatments and cures of tomorrow.
Gerard Scimeca is an attorney and serves as chairman and co-founder of CASE, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, a free-market oriented consumer advocacy organization.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.