Bustos Helps Pass Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Statement

Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) continued her efforts to deliver affordable and accessible health care for hardworking Illinoisans when she helped pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which would rein in skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs and expand Medicare coverage. The passage of this vital legislation comes after Congresswoman Bustos brought constituent stories to the Floor of the House to urge support from her colleagues, and after convening roundtable discussions in Peoria and Rockford to engage community leaders on this issue.

"For the mother fighting to afford her diabetic daughter's insulin, to the senior living on a fixed income who is struggling to afford his medication, I am proud to support this bill to bring some relief to hardworking Illinois families and seniors," Congresswoman Bustos said. "This bold action would help lower the costs of health care and prescription drugs and put money back in people's pockets. That's why the Senate must immediately act to lift this unfair burden for the American people."

Specifically, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act would do the following:

Give Medicare the ability to negotiate directly with the drug companies and create powerful new tools to force drug companies to the table to agree to real price reductions, while ensuring seniors never lose access to the prescriptions they need.
Make the lower drug prices negotiated by Medicare available to Americans with private insurance, not just Medicare beneficiaries.
Stop drug companies from ripping off Americans by charging other countries less for the same drugs, limiting the maximum price for any negotiated drug to be in line with the average price in countries like ours, where drug companies charge less for the same drugs.
Create a new $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, and reverse years of unfair price hikes above inflation across thousands of drugs in Medicare.
Reinvest in the most transformational improvement to Medicare since its creation -- delivering vision, dental and hearing benefits -- and turbocharging the search for new cures.
In addition to helping pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, Congresswoman Bustos and the House Democratic majority have passed more than ten bills to lower health care costs and drive down the outrageous price of prescription drugs. In particular, they have passed legislation out of the House that would enable more affordable prescription drugs to get to the market sooner, reverse the White House's sabotage of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) enrollment efforts and crack down on junk insurance plans that refuse to cover pre-existing conditions and raise costs for consumers.

Congresswoman Bustos also urges Illinoisans who receive their coverage through the individual market to review their health insurance options during the annual health exchange's open enrollment period. Open enrollment lasts for three more days until December 15th. Illinoisans can find the best coverage for them by visiting GetCovered.Illinois.Gov or HealthCare.Gov.

Source