Prescription Drug Prices

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHRADER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019.

It is high time that our struggling seniors are given the right to negotiate drug costs just like we have in commercial plans, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, and Medicaid.

Seniors should not be subject to artificially high copays and out-of- pocket expenses because of an out-of-date law that prohibits Medicare from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies. Price negotiation is a free market principle that our country embraces in almost every other aspect of life. Why should our seniors not have the same right?

H.R. 3 also limits Medicare part D out-of-pocket expenses to $2,000 a year. This aligns closely with how the private market works and a Senate companion bill.

Making sure seniors can afford their medicines keeps them out of the expensive hospital system and saves patients and taxpayers, alike, lots of money.

Finally, there is an effort in the bill to limit the inflationary impact on drug costs that have been on the market for a long time and improve price transparency so we can actually shed some light on what is going on.

This is long overdue. It is time for bipartisan and bicameral action on one of the most pressing issues of our day for seniors and all Americans.

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