Managing Prescription Drug Costs" Please respond to the following:

• The issue of rising prescription drug costs has garnered a significant amount of discourse in recent years. The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act (Medicare Part D) established a prescription drug program for Medicare and provided drug coverage for Medicare enrollees. The Act expressly prohibited Medicare from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The lack of negotiations between Medicare and the pharmaceutical companies has been cited as a major factor in the increased costs of prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees.

o Formulate an argument where you either support or challenge the effectiveness of allowing price negotiations between Medicare and drug manufacturers in order to reduce overall costs. Justify your response.