While making another campaign stop at a drug store, Gore hears a little old lady say that she's forced to pick and choose which of her prescriptions to fill so that she will have money left to eat. Ah, shades of Elmer Gantry. On its face, it's just another scheme to implement Hillary Clinton's national health-care plan piecemeal, after the effort to shove it through all at once failed. The Gore plan is based on current expenditures and trends. But as we know, when something is subsidized people buy more of it.
Drugs are no exception.
For example, people now using generics might switch to brand names. Or they'll switch to a drug that has only marginally improved benefits but perhaps costs five times more. And don't think Gore would hesitate for a nanosecond to slap on price caps. He's chomping at the bit. Gore's approach to drug-price issues has always been characterized by populism and demagoguery with no evidence of any understanding of how drug pricing works.