Many conservatives and right-of-center political analysts are rightly upset about Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar’s proposal to tie drug prices in the United States to those in foreign nations. Such a proposal would make our healthcare system dependent on the whims of nations that subscribe to command and control economic models. There is also the stark reality that imposing price controls does not fix any underlying issues that caused prices to be high in the first place.

Almost all Americans want lower price prescription drugs, and it is indefensible that American consumers often have to pay higher prices than customers in developed nations around the world. This is especially intolerable given that most of the wonder drugs of recent years and decades that we pay more for have been developed on these shores.