November 15, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 183 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H8906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICING

  (Ms. SCANLON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, every day I hear from constituents who 
are going broke trying to pay for their prescriptions, and more often 
than not they are seniors--seniors like Cheryl, who often has to decide 
whether to forgo one of her monthly medications or to pay a $600 
pharmacy bill.
  Stories like Cheryl's are becoming both all too common and 
unacceptable.
  We are committed to lowering the cost of prescription drugs so that 
Americans can afford their lifesaving medications.
  That is why I have introduced legislation to eliminate some of the 
barriers that seniors and people with disabilities have to getting the 
medications they need.
  The Better Tools to Lower Costs Act, which has been included in H.R. 
3, would eliminate the asset requirement for CMS's Extra Help program.
  As a result, low-income Medicare recipients with modest retirement 
savings or a small rainy-day fund would get help to pay for 
deductibles, premiums, and copays.

  Families should not have to drain their life savings or sell their 
homes to afford lifesaving medication. Commonsense solutions like this 
and others in H.R. 3 will address the prescription drug crisis, and I 
look forward to voting for it.

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