If only Nixon could go to China, could only Trump import socialism?

The Trump administration recently proposed a new International Drug Pricing Index. Instead of relying on markets for prices, the government would look at what other countries are paying for drugs and pay a rate based on those numbers. These countries are relying on price fixing, which the administration understands as socialist, (the other governments don’t respect intellectual property) and nobody on the list cares about the health of U.S. citizens more than their own.

I wrote about the plan early on, but since then more than 150 economists have sent a letter to the president agreeing with me. Almost 50 conservative groups, including mine, have sent a letter to the president. The numbers just keep stacking up against the administration’s plan.

The problem for the president is that the healthcare system, drug-pricing included, is definitely broken. However, smart people have come up with a lot of solutions that could work — that don’t import socialism. That is the part that makes the administration’s proposal such a head-scratcher. Why not try at least something, like streamlining the FDA approval process, before throwing capitalism out with the bathwater? I understand that a market solution takes guts. I understand that a market solution takes faith. I understand that it is a hard decision to rely on competition instead of attempting to micromanage a solution.