By Jeff Crouere ——Bio and Archives--January 8, 2024

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A Reuters report released just days ago uncovered that America’s leading drugmakers are raising prices yet again. Due to industry greed, the American people can expect to see more than 140 brands of drugs increase in cost over the next month.

Prior to the increase, on average, pharmaceutical costs are already higher in the United States than in any other country in the world. According to Bloomberg, the average American spends about $1,300 per year on pharmaceuticals. For a year’s supply of a newly launched drug, the costs have risen to $220,000 per year, an increase of more than 20% from 2021.

The most infuriating of the announced price hikes came from Pfizer. The $167 billion company routinely receives government-guaranteed business, including $2 billion from Operation Warp Speed. It has so much money that its CEO receives an average of $17.4 million in annual bonuses. Yet, it still has the audacity to raise the prices of its products.

It is one thing when the drugmakers decide to independently raise prices; however, it is quite another when they seek to use government force to help them do so. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening now.

In 2022, the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the trade association that represents all the major drugmakers, contributed $52 million to “political campaigns and nonprofits, patient groups, universities and other organizations.” In the first nine months of 2023, PhRMA spent $21 million strictly on federal lobbying,........

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