Hillary Clinton fixes sights on ripe target: prescription drug prices

Donald Trump followed Clinton's lead, blasting Turing CEO and Founder Martin Shkreli for raising the price of the life-saving medication Daraprim by over 5,000 percent.

"He looks like a spoiled brat to me," Trump said at a campaign event in South Carolina last week. "He's a hedge fund guy. I thought it was disgusting what he did."

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Citing public pressure, Shkreli says Turing will lower the price of Daraprim.

While Clinton has also singled out hedge fund managers over carried interest loopholes that result in them "paying a lower tax rate" than "nurses and truck drivers," the issue of prescription drug costs is, by some measures, more immediate.

"We've certainly seen, in the last few months of our polling, that Americans are worried over drug costs. It's something that bothers them—it's part of their health care bill that they see," Brodie said.

Still, Americans remain divided on PPACA. An August Gallup survey found that 50 percent of Americans disapproves of the health care law, while 44 percent approves. Clinton appears to be betting that resistance to PPACA is largely driven by rising costs. In response to a Facebook question on Monday about how she would curb the high cost of health insurance, Clinton again emphasized that she would continue to try to improve the law if elected president.

"I agree with you that too many Americans—who had good health insurance before [PPACA] and still have it—are now facing higher and higher out of pocket costs," Clinton responded. "My plan will cap out of pocket prescription drug costs at $250/month to help people with chronic diseases and serious illnesses. I will also provide a tax credit of up to $5,000 for families with high out-of-pocket costs that aren't covered by their insurance plans."

Going after pharmaceutical companies is a calculated risk by Clinton, who has steered clear of other corporate targets pursued by Sanders, including breaking up the big banks and restoring Glass-Steagall financial regulations on those institutions. At a July speech in New York, she did sound a cautious note over "gig economy" companies like Uber which, she said, raised "hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future."

"Half of Americans take prescription drugs on a regular basis and when they go to the pharmacy they see the prices on those drugs, even if the amount that they pay is much less—even if their co-pay is much less, they see what the charges are," Brodie said. "So it's one aspect of health care that regularly interacts with the household budget and pocketbook issues." The bottom line, Brodie adds, is that "the American public is worried about the cost of prescription drugs. They think the pharmaceutical companies make too much profit."

—Emily Greenhouse contributed reporting.