There she goes again. Two days after Lisa Sylvester misrepresented the views of free market advocate Robert Poole, the Medill Journalism School alumna turned Lou Dobbs acolyte presented a story that amounted to a cheerleading routine for the Democrat's plans for Medicare.
While Sylvester included one sound bite from USC's Dr. Joel Hay, she left out his chief complaint with the Democratic plan to institute de facto drug price controls in the guise of Medicare "negotiating" with drug companies to lower prices for seniors on Medicare.
What's more, Sylvester quickly dismissed Hay -- an expert in pharmacoeconomics, the study of the economics of drug development and distribution -- saying that "common sense" dictates that government "negotiation" can lower drug prices.
Catch the full article here. Below is an excerpt:
"My position is that H.R. 4 is actually very damaging public policy," economist Dr. Joel Hay told the Business & Media Institute. “I wanted to present my view,” that “price negotiations or price controls are going to end up damaging the innovative pharmaceutical industry” but “none of that got into the program,” said the University of Southern California professor of his appearance in a segment on the January 11 "Lou Dobbs Tonight."
In the sound bite aired, Hay complained that government negotiation can’t ultimately lower prices unless it completely shuts companies out of the Medicare market as a punishment for making an acceptable offer. But excluded was conservative argument that private drugs plans actually drive down costs.
"I certainly don’t feel I’m treated fairly," Hay added, complaining that his sound bite was a "correct point" but had little to do with his chief concerns with the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007.
What’s more Sylvester dismissed his comment by insisting that "common sense says the bargaining power of 40 million seniors will drive down prices."
"This is economics 101," liberal freshman Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) insisted immediately following Sylvester’s “common sense” line. But far from an armchair pundit, Hay is an expert in the field of economics devoting to studying the pharmaceutical industry.
He is "a founding member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research" (ISPOR), according to his USC faculty profile.
