I
hear about the rising cost of prescription drugs at nearly every one of my town
hall meetings.
Three
years ago, I began a bipartisan effort to lower prescription drug costs.
Following
Finance Committee hearings, a mark-up and bipartisan negotiations, Senator
Wyden and I introduced the Prescription
Drug Pricing Reduction Act.
The
bill caps yearly out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors at $3,100.
It
prevents drug costs from growing faster than consumer price index.
It ends
uncapped taxpayer-funded subsidies to Big Pharma.
It
creates more sunshine, competition and oversight into the world of drug prices.
It
brings meaningful reform while driving down costs.
$72
billion in savings for seniors and $95 billion in savings for taxpayers.
An
important goal we accomplished in our bill - lowering drug costs without hurting
innovation.
We
did this by keeping government out of the business of setting prices.
Democrats
have proposed the irresponsible idea of government dictating drug prices.
They
would do this by getting rid of the non-interference clause. Better known as so
called “drug price negotiations.”
It’s
not “negotiating”, it’s “dictating”!
18
years ago, I was a principle architect of the Medicare Part D program.
Adding
a prescription drug benefit for seniors was the right thing to do.
But
it needed to be done in the right way - for patients.
In
creating Part D, we enacted a key policy: keeping government out of the business
of dictating drug prices.
Governments
don’t negotiate, they dictate.
Competition
is the only thing that drives innovation, curbs costs, expands coverage and improves
outcomes.
The
Congressional Budget Office has consistently stated: Government negotiations of
drug prices would not achieve greater savings than the current market-based
system.
Unless
you restrict the formulary or dictate the price through reference pricing based
on what socialist health care systems pay.
Democrats
propose so called “drug price negotiations” in their reckless tax and spending
spree to save hundreds of billions dollars.
That’s
the outcome. The government gets between you and your doctor’s prescribing.
Who
is hurt by this policy? Patients!
The
Democrats would have government dictate drug prices based on an international reference
pricing index.
Study
after study has shown, so-called “drug price negotiations” will reduce the
number of new drugs produced.
What
your doctor wants to prescribe for you might not be on the formulary.
This
policy would be devastating if one of those drugs was the cure for Alzheimer’s
disease, diabetes or cancer.
I
don’t believe that is what Americans want.
While
Democrats attempt to advance their partisan drug pricing scheme, I hope common
sense will prevail and we pass a bipartisan prescription drug bill.
I
have engaged with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. So, common sense will
prevail.
All of
the Republicans and Democrats I’ve contacted have expressed eagerness to find a
solution to meaningfully lower prescription drug costs.
Holding
Big Pharma accountable has historically been a bipartisan effort.
Delivering
new reforms to fight price hikes should be no different.
Democrats
should stop pursuing their reckless tax and spending spree that will hurt
innovation and produce less cures.
Instead,
we should act by passing my bipartisan prescription drug bill.