Posted by Michael Wonder on 23 Feb 2017
Billionaire philanthropist John Arnold goes after drug prices
23 February 2017 - Arnold-backed group pushes for Medicare drug negotiations.
A billionaire philanthropist who made his fortune making contrarian bets on natural gas has set his sights on a new target: drug prices.
John Arnold, a former Enron Corp. trader who left his fund five years ago to focus on giving away his money, donated $500,000 to a newly formed group called Patients for Affordable Drugs, whose main policy goal is lowering U.S. drug prices.
The organisation advocates giving Medicare, the government program for the elderly, the ability to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers -- something Big Pharma has long opposed and dreaded. The debate over price negotiating was reignited this year by President Donald Trump, whose administration has signalled that he might push Congress to allow the government to force drugmakers into bidding wars in order to help reduce health-care costs.
