Source: United States Senator for Minnesota Amy Klobuchar
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led 11 of her colleagues in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) urging them to include reforms to lower prescription drug costs in the upcoming reconciliation bill. Specifically, the senators highlighted the need for provisions giving Medicare the authority to negotiate the best drug prices.
“Too many Americans are struggling to afford the medications they need. Last year, one in three Americans saw their out-of-pocket medication costs increase, and certain brand-name prescription drugs in the United States cost two to four times more than they do in other countries. This has real consequences,” the senators wrote.
They continued: “We have solutions on the table to help people access the medications they need at the prices they can afford. By allowing Medicare negotiation, we can help cut the cost of prescription drugs while increasing access to life-saving medications. And this idea has broad support. According to a recent poll, nearly 90 percent of Americans support allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower drug prices.”
In addition to Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
In March, Klobuchar introduced the Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate Drug Prices Act to allow Medicare to negotiate the best price of prescription drugs for seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D. This bill is co-sponsored by 33 other senators.
In July, two of Klobuchar’s bills to lower prescription drug costs passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Preserving Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act would limit anticompetitive “pay-for-delay deals” that prevent or delay the introduction of affordable follow-on versions of branded pharmaceuticals. The Stop Significant and Time-wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation of New Generics (Stop STALLING) Act would reduce the incentives for branded pharmaceutical companies to file sham petitions with the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to interfere with the regulatory approval of generics and biosimilars that would compete with their own products, a tactic that delays patient access to more affordable medications.
Last year, Klobuchar’s Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act, which prevents abusive tactics that hinder affordable drugs from entering the market, was signed into law.
Full text of the letter can be found HERE and below:
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Chairman Sanders, and Chairman Wyden:
We write to urge you to make sure that the upcoming reconciliation bill includes reforms to lower the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans as well as provisions that give Medicare the authority to negotiate the best drug prices.
Too many Americans are struggling to afford the medications they need. Last year, one in three Americans saw their out-of-pocket medication costs increase, and certain brand-name prescription drugs in the United States cost two to four times more than they do in other countries. This has real consequences. We have heard too many stories of people cutting pills in half, skipping doses, or declining to fill their prescriptions altogether as a result of high prices. In fact, nearly 20 percent of older adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost.
To help bring down the cost of prescription drugs, we must allow Medicare to directly negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. Currently, 46 million seniors are enrolled in the Medicare Part D program, and while the program has helped tens of millions of people access life-saving drugs, more must be done to address the high out-of-pocket costs too many Medicare beneficiaries are facing.
We have solutions on the table to help people access the medications they need at the prices they can afford. By allowing Medicare negotiation, we can help cut the cost of prescription drugs while increasing access to life-saving medications. And this idea has broad support. According to a recent poll, nearly 90 percent of Americans support allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower drug prices.
We strongly urge inclusion of provisions to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices and increase the affordability of prescription drugs in the upcoming reconciliation bill.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.
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