Price controls on drugs limit access more than price

Congressional Democrats want to fundamentally transform Medicare by imposing socialist price controls on prescription drugs. But they know such drastic changes would be dead-on-arrival in the Republican-held Senate.

In the meantime, some of them are coalescing behind a more moderate-sounding proposal that would achieve a similar result.

This proposal, known as “binding arbitration,” would allow government-appointed arbitrators to dictate, er “negotiate,” drug prices.

Currently, Medicare pays for drugs in different ways. Medicines that patients buy from pharmacies are generally covered through...