Statement on H.R. 3 Passage
***Press Release***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 12, 2019 | Contact: Kate Stotesbery 202-225-4865 |
Statement on H.R. 3 Passage
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, released the following statement on the passage of H.R. 3:
"Today, I joined Democratic colleagues in voting to approve H.R. 3. I did so as a statement about the importance of negotiation as the only effective way to reduce drug prices and in support for applying savings to include dental, hearing, and vision Medicare coverage, as proposed in legislation that I have previously authored.
Yesterday, I voted against adopting a Rule that established the procedure for considering H.R. 3, because it denied debate on necessary improvements to cover all patients suffering from prescription price gouging. This legislation does not provide a complete model for the comprehensive negotiation bill that Congress can hopefully approve under the leadership of a new, humane President in 2021. In a stronger, more expansive vision of the change America so desperately needs, no patient should be left out or left alone to suffer or die for lack of medicine. Negotiation should be paired with competition to constrain these government-approved monopolies, which have exploited our most vulnerable neighbors for too long. Even with such leadership, overcoming the powerful lobbying of Big Pharma, so evident again this year, will remain an immense challenge."
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