President Biden has promised that the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law this August, will “lower the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare for families” thanks to provisions that allow the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the price of some medications directly with pharmaceutical companies. Critics are decidedly less enthusiastic. They say the IRA’s new drug price provisions are more akin to government price-fixing than negotiation – an unprecedented power grab in healthcare. “I don’t believe that’s negotiation,” said Matt Wetzel, a Life Sciences and Healthcare partner in Washington, D.C., while speaking with RealClearInvestigations. “This is the opportunity to give one counteroffer and then a price cap is generated.”