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[Page H10023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WE HEAR AMERICANS REGARDING SKYROCKETING DRUG COSTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Trone) for 5 minutes.
Mr. TRONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3, the Elijah
Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. This bill fulfills a promise that we
made to the American people.
We heard America when you told us drug costs were so high you
sometimes had to choose between buying your medicine and paying your
heating bill.
We heard America when you spoke to us about skyrocketing drug costs
compromising your quality of life.
We heard America when you said you had to ration drugs because you
couldn't afford your next prescription.
No one should have to make those tradeoffs for themselves or their
children.
In the United States, we pay more for drugs than any other country.
For insulin alone, Americans pay four times the average of other
countries. In my district in Maryland, people with Medicare are paying
4.9 times what they would pay in Australia; 3.5 times what they would
pay in the United Kingdom; and 2.6 times what they would pay in Canada
for prescription drugs.
Marylanders and Americans have been getting a bad deal, and it is
time to change that. I come from the business world and in business you
are successful when you negotiate a better price. Government should be
able to do the same thing with pharmaceutical companies.
H.R. 3 will allow us to do this. It will allow the U.S. Government to
negotiate lower prices for Medicare and private insurance and put a
$2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drugs. It will also expand
Medicare benefits to add coverage for dental, vision, and hearing for
the first time ever.
In total, this bill will save the Federal Government over $500
billion over the next 10 years. Not only will this save money in the
pockets of the average American, but it will reinvest that money to
help our children and our children's children.
It will do this by investing $10 billion for biomedical research at
NIH. NIH is the best investment in our future that we could ever make.
Every dollar spurs $8 in return. Investing money in NIH just makes
sense.
It will also do this by investing $10 billion to fight our Nation's
biggest problem: the opioid epidemic. Unscrupulous pharma companies
fueled this opioid epidemic with irresponsible and illegal schemes to
flood the market with prescription pain pills. We have paid dearly for
those pills in lives lost.
It is only right that the savings we create through lowering drug
prices for Americans should go to fighting this epidemic.
I am proud that the bipartisan bill I introduced with the Freshmen
Working Group on Addiction, the State Opioid Response Grant
Authorization Act, is included in H.R. 3 and will provide $7.5 billion
over the next 5 years for consistent and predictable funding for the
communities that are fighting the opioid epidemic on the front lines.
Opioids have killed more than 400,000 Americans. It is time to act.
Last month, I held a roundtable in Gaithersburg, Maryland, about the
high cost of prescription drugs. At the roundtable, we had medical
professionals and regular folks who wrote into my office about the
incredibly high cost of prescription drugs.
One of those people was Suzette Cumberland. Suzette has Type 1
diabetes, and over the summer the price for her medication shot up 300
percent without warning or explanation. This is not fair, and it is not
right.
I am standing on the floor of the House of Representatives today and
say to Suzette: We all hear you. I hear you and the millions of people
across the country who have to make decisions about whether to pay for
food or the medication they need to survive.
I urge my colleagues to vote for the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs
Now Act. It is time to stand up to the pharmaceutical companies and
fight for those without a PAC or a lobbyist to represent them--the
American people.
Let's fight for them.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their
remarks to the Chair.
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