By Doug Cunningham

The Medicare prescription drug program could save $30 billion a year if the government were allowed to negotiate lower drug prices. That's according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Economist Dean Baker says the Veterans Administration and many foreign countries pay as much as 70 percent less for drugs than the Medicare drug program. And fewer people than expected enrolled, also a factor in the lower than projected cost. The bottom line? Congress created a program that's unnecessarily more costly than if a drug benefit had just been added to existing Medicare with the government power to negotiate lower prices.