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Many Republicans complain that Pelosi’s bill interferes with the free market — and that it amounts to a federal “takeover” of prescription drug pricing. Democrats counter that the free market has clearly failed to produce affordable drug prices, with cash-strapped seniors skipping medications or cutting pills in half. They also point out that price negotiation is an important facet of free markets.
According to AARP, the annual average cost of prescription drugs overall increased nearly 60% between 2012-2017, while Oregonians’ income increased only 14.8%. In 2017, nearly one quarter of the state’s residents rationed pills or skipped medications altogether. Oregon seniors who have suffered the consequences of soaring drug prices shared their stories at the Portland town hall.
Newly empowered House Democrats plan to move first on smaller, bipartisan legislation to lower drug prices, hoping to notch some early victories before moving on to more sweeping measures.
Democrats have targeted a number of measures that are smaller in scope but have support from some Senate Republicans, according to Democratic sources. They hope taking a strategic approach and passing those measures will build momentum as they prepare to tackle more controversial proposals further down the road, like allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Lowering drug prices is a top priority for both House Democrats and President Trump, making it a rare area of potential bipartisan agreement. But it also holds possible political pitfalls.
via The Hill.
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Trump Administration Drug Proposal Puts Burden on Beneficiaries.
Far from putting seniors in the driver’s seat, as Verma insists, this proposal leaves them in the passenger’s seat – with Big Pharma at the wheel.
Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.
National polls show that most Americans, across party lines, support allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies as a way to bring down the cost of prescription drugs…
…CBO has said that price negotiation could lower the cost of drugs that lack competition. Private Part D plans currently have no leverage to negotiate for lower prices when a drug has no competitor.
via twitter.
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How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
- Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
- Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
- Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
- Medicare Fraud, Waste and Abuse.
House Democrats this evening passed the session’s first legislation aimed at lowering drug prices, as the party looks to solidify its political advantage on a key issue for voters ahead ahead of 2020.
The health care vote — the House’s second in two weeks — came over bitter protests from Republicans, who accused Democratic leaders of politicizing once-bipartisan drug price proposals by pairing them with polarizing measures to strengthen Obamacare. The bill is unlikely to survive the GOP-controlled Senate.
via Politico.
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We have added this to our Congressional timeline.
You can stay up to date on what happens in Congress by visiting our timeline by clicking here.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., unveiled her long-anticipated plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs on Thursday. It is a priority shared by President Trump, fueling a glimmer of hope that there is a deal to be had on the issue ahead of the 2020 elections.
“It is transformative,” Pelosi said of her plan.“We do hope to have White House buy-in.”
The speaker’s proposal calls for the federal government, through the health and human services secretary, to negotiate annually prices for the top 250 most expensive drugs on the market that don’t have at least two competitors. The price determined by the negotiations would be available to all purchasers, not just Medicare beneficiaries.
via NPR.
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Note to GOP: Prescription Drug ‘Free Market’ Has Failed Americans.
No sooner had Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation to lower prescription drug prices, than House Republicans rejected it on the usual grounds. According to GOP orthodoxy, any attempt by the government to rein-in runaway prescription prices amounts to “interfering” with the “free market.” To the extent that the pharmaceutical market honestly can be called “free” (given the industry’s patent monopolies and suppression of cheaper, generic medications), it has failed spectacularly to provide affordable prescription drugs to consumers, including seniors on fixed incomes.
Kaiser reports that Republicans object to three main provisions of the Democratic leadership’s bill, namely that it would:
- Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies
- Link U.S. drug prices to the lower prices paid overseas.
- Limit how fast drug companies can raise their prices.
Lowering the cost of prescription drugs is an issue agreed on by a wide swath of politicians, from President Donald Trump to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. As the ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is better positioned than most to do something about it.
Murray was in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on Thursday to talk about legislation she has introduced, and plans to introduce, this year to lower health-care costs. The senator spoke in the lobby of the Country Doctor Community Clinic, flanked by clinic employees and people struggling to pay for prescription drugs.
“People should be able to manage their health care without worrying about whether they can afford their rent or their mortgage or even their groceries,” she said.
via Seattle Times.
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Meeting the Demand for Lower Drug Prices in Medicare.
Three policy approaches to lowering drug costs that Congress is actively considering are: 1) allowing the government to negotiate directly with manufacturers in the Medicare Part D program, 2) placing inflationary spending caps on drugs, and 3) so-called reference pricing.
via twitter.
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Letter Urging Cosponsoring of “The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act”.
We support Congressman Doggett’s bill because it would allow the Secretary of Health & Human Services to directly negotiate prices for prescription drugs and issue a competitive license allowing other manufacturers to produce the drug for Medicare in the event negotiations fail.
Hill Democrats Get Tough on Big Pharma, Prescription Drug Prices.
Last week, Democrats introduced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. This week, the new chairman of a key House committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), announced an investigation into skyrocketing drug costs.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings introduced legislation on Thursday aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs for American consumers, critiquing President Donald Trump administration’s efforts to curb medicine prices.
Democrats have been critical of efforts by the Trump administration to bring down drug prices after Trump, a Republican, promised to do so during his 2016 campaign and since being elected. They have said administration proposals let big drugmakers off the hook and did not do enough to help Americans.
“I say to the president: No more talk, no more tweet. No more commotion, emotion and motion and no results,” Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings said at a news conference on Thursday. Cummings became chairman of the House Oversight Committee after Democrats regained control of the chamber this month.
via Reuters.
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Congress Moves to Tackle Prescription Drug Prices.
Rising drug prices continue to pummel the pocketbooks of seniors living on fixed incomes. Too many older Americans are still having to choose between groceries and medicine – or cutting pills in half.
Momentum also appears to be gathering for legislation affecting generic drugs. Big pharmaceutical companies have long engaged in anti-competitive behavior to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market. The bipartisan CREATES Act would make it harder for brand name drug-makers to impede cheaper generic competition.
Medicare spent $97 billion on prescription drugs in 2014, accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s spending on prescription medicines. Those numbers are expected to continue rising in coming years, as spending on the Part D benefit accelerates. Policymakers have put a number of proposals on the table to reduce the growth in Medicare drug spending and costs for beneficiaries, including a controversial proposal that would change the way Medicare pays for Part B drugs administered by doctors.
Related Reading:
Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.
Letter to Senate Finance on High Drug Costs.