Little Lobbyists Statement on HR3: The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019
Little Lobbyists believe health care is a human right, and for many individuals, access to affordable prescription medications is critical to sustaining health. For far too many Americans, the high prices of many medications have forced them to choose between feeding and housing their families or paying for their medications. Many of our families rely on the innovation and development of life-saving medications to treat and sustain our children with complex medical needs and disabilities. Those medications, however, are only life-saving if the patient can afford them. Therefore, we support House Resolution 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 (“Lower Drug Costs Now Act”).
This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate prices with drug corporations for certain drugs. Current law actually prohibits CMS from doing so. In particular, The Lower Drug Costs Now Act requires CMS to negotiate prices for insulin products as well as 25 other single source medications that do not have generic competition based on the international market price. It also allows CMS to negotiate the prices of many other medications and penalizes drug manufacturers for suddenly raising prices or for charging excessive amounts over natural inflation.
For the majority of prescription drugs, when research and development is predominantly funded with taxpayer dollars, we believe Medicare/the government must be able to negotiate with drug corporations to secure reasonable prices and prevent price gouging of medications, like insulin and epipens. House Resolution 3 proposes to do just that.
We do need to increase support for research and development of treatments and cures for illnesses and diseases from the very common to the exceedingly rare. This is critically important to many of our families, especially for those with rare diseases. The Lower Drug Costs Now Act allows drug manufacturers to recoup the costs of research and development and reward innovation while still ensuring that the people who need these treatments and cures will be able to afford them. Through existing research and innovation, multiple breakthroughs allow effective "off label" use of medications, which are essential in the rare disease community. These diverse needs must be properly considered.
Allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of pharmaceuticals with drug corporations will ultimately lower the cost for all Americans, including our children with complex medical needs and disabilities, allowing families to access the life saving medications children need to survive and thrive. House Resolution 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act is an important step in the right direction.
