Rep. Slotkin Demands Action to Lower Prescription Drug Prices in Testimony Before Ways and Means Committee
Calls for allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices and for increasing drug-price transparency, denounces Big Pharma’s role in politics.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) yesterday delivered forceful testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee demanding Congress and the Ways and Means committee take action to pass legislation that lowers the price of prescription drugs.
Slotkin has made lowering the price of prescription drugs and affordable healthcare a top priority. She has co-sponsored the FLAT Prices Act, which would penalize drug companies who engage in predatory prices increases, and co-sponsored the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act, which would allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices like the Veterans Administration does already.
"In Michigan's 8th district, the high cost of prescription drugs is the top issue that people come and talk to me about," said Slotkin. "Constituents pull me aside in the grocery store, they come to town halls, and literally beg me to push for prescription drug prices to come down so that they can afford the insulin for their child. This is simply wrong, and your committee and our House have an opportunity to do something about it."
Watch the full remarks here.
In particular, Slotkin stressed the need to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and for enhanced transparency in drug pricing, and denounced the role the pharmaceutical industry has in preventing progress on lowering prices, despite bipartisan agreement on the issue.
"The VA is allowed to negotiate for drug prices, Medicare is not -- for no other reason than sheer and unadulterated greed," Slotkin said.
"In our system, we deserve to comparison shop for prescription drugs before we buy them -- that competition is as American as apple pie," Slotkin said of transparency in drug pricing. "But most of the time, people have no idea what they could be paying for comparable medications or generics."
"In addition to lowering the cost of prescription drugs for the good of our constituents, I think we need to be deeply concerned about the perception of the drug industry. Right now, people in my district believe that these drug companies are purposely using predatory price increases to line their pockets, that it's not for research and development, it's for more commercials. We all want the best, life-saving drugs to be discovered in the United States, but the perception that the drug industry has bought and sold Washington and does not understand [its] role in our system is going to hurt everything we are trying to do with saving lives and helping peoples' pocketbooks."