November 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 182 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H8836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                  BRING DOWN PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

  (Mr. LIPINSKI asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a call to action to 
bring down prescription drug prices.
  Some say a drug company should be able to charge any price because 
that is just how the market works. But the market for many prescription 
drugs is broken.
  As a diabetic, I know how the price of insulin has skyrocketed for no 
good reason. Medicare spent 3\1/2\ times more on insulin per patient in 
2016 than in 2007.
  Many Americans depend on other drugs to survive: EpiPens for life-
threatening allergies, emergency inhalers for asthma, chemotherapy 
drugs for cancer. Patients relying on life-sustaining drugs can't 
simply vote with their wallet to fight back against price gougers.
  That is why I introduced H.R. 5039, to give Medicare the tools it 
needs to bring down the price of life-sustaining drugs, similar to 
other developed countries.
  American families deserve better than the Big Pharma status quo. 
Let's pass H.R. 5039 and give that to them.

                          ____________________