Earlier this year, President Trump rolled out his American Patients First blueprint to lower drug prices, which have steadily increased over the years. One of his priorities within the plan was to prohibit “gag clauses” within health insurance contracts that prevent pharmacists from letting their patients know that it would be cheaper for them to pay cash for their prescription rather than using their insurance.
In the U.S., nearly 60 percent of Americans take prescriptions drugs. From 2006 to 2015, prescription drug spending increased on average nearly five percent a year, with the highest increase in spending occurring in 2014 at 12.4 percent. In 2016 alone, Americans spent over $325 billion on retail prescription drugs, which was nearly 10 percent of all health care costs.
These alarming numbers got our attention in Congress, and we quickly began working on ways to fix this problem. In September, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, which I sit on, held a hearing that addressed eliminating “gag clauses.” The legislation discussed would prevent group health care plans, individual health care plans and Medicare Part D plans from barring pharmacists from informing their customers about lower-cost prescription drug options.
Soon after our hearing, similar legislation, S. 2553, Know the Lowest Price Act, and S. 2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, were passed in both the House of Representatives and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. On October 10, President Trump signed both bills into law, finally allowing pharmacists to relay common sense information to their customers about prescription drug prices. Now, when a consumer goes to purchase their prescription drugs, they will be given all of their options.
President Trump and Congress will continue to focus on solutions to lower drug prices. Breaking down communication barriers that can prevent lower drug prices is a common-sense approach. The American people deserve a health care system that works for them and not against them. I applaud my colleagues in both chambers for their hard work and I thank the president for his strong leadership on this issue.
2 comments:
I guess you had to celebrate your great effort with more steak and potatoes in Vegas. Seriously, how to you not bust a gut laughing at your voters allowing you to play, eat and travel to spots they only dream of going to. It has to surely make you wonder what kind of dolts you represent that keep voting you in and it for sure has to make the rest of the representatives wonder if Missouri is not a haven for imbecile habitat. By the way, it would be nice if you came out and made a public information and question session to all that have to pay you, your family and office workers salaries.
Maybe he could make a "deal" with those Insulin manufacturers so people don't die because they can't afford the only medicine that will keep them alive. IJS.
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