Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued the following today:
02.07.19
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Introduces Legislation to Make Prescription Drugs More Affordable for Seniors on Medicare
Bill would lower costs and put people over Big Pharma profits
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy
Baldwin, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee, introduced legislation with Senators Sherrod Brown
(D-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to make prescription drugs more
affordable for seniors on Medicare.
The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act
would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to
negotiate drug prices and, if drug companies refuse to negotiate in good
faith, to enable the Secretary to issue a competitive, compulsory
license to another company that is willing and able to produce the
medication as a generic. The bill is being introduced in the House of
Representatives by Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Peter Welch (D-VT)
and Elijah Cummings (D-MD).
“We have a broken system in Washington that
prohibits the federal government from negotiating lower prescription
drug prices for older Wisconsinites,” said Senator Baldwin. “We
need to fix this and provide seniors a better deal on prescription drug
costs. Let’s allow the government to negotiate directly with drug
companies so we can lower costs for seniors and save taxpayers money.”
“The purpose of medicine is to help people, not
to line the pockets of Big Pharma executives. Our bill would call Big
Pharma’s bluff and demand prescription drug companies offer fair prices,
or be boxed out,” said Senator Brown.
“Medicare is one of the largest drug purchasers
in the country. It should not be restricted from negotiating the best
deal with drug manufacturers,” said Senator Klobuchar. “Americans
deserve better. I have fought for years to unleash the bargaining power
of seniors on Medicare and this bill offers another important step
towards lowering the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs.”
American patients are burdened by high drug
prices, as these same patients’ tax dollars go into protecting
government-approved, government-funded monopolies. The top health care
concern for Americans is skyrocketing prescription drug prices. It is
past time for a patient-first plan to lower them.
Big pharmaceutical companies often use scare
tactics in order to maintain the highest profits of any industry.
Prescription drug companies have previously made threats against
negotiations bills, stating that if they were forced to negotiate more
competitive prices, they would simply refuse to sell its drugs to people
on Medicare. The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act
stipulates that if pharmaceutical companies refuse to agree to a
reasonable price on a given medication, the Secretary of HHS could issue
this competitive, compulsory license to another company that will offer
the drug at a price that’s fair to Medicare beneficiaries and
taxpayers.
In 2018, Americans spent an all-time high of $360 billion on prescription drugs. According to a 2016 Consumer Reports survey,
30 percent of Americans who experienced an increase in the price of one
or more of their medications left a prescription unfilled because it
was too expensive; 15 percent said they cut pills in half to make them
last longer.
The full legislation is available here.
