Trump on Rx Drugs: “After nearly two years of delay and dither, what we need is a pilot, not a pilot program”
***Press Release***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 25, 2018 | Contact: Mike Ahn 202-225-4865 |
Trump on Rx Drugs: "After nearly two years of delay and dither, what we need is a pilot, not a pilot program"
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), senior Member on the House Ways & Means Committee and Chair of the Affordable Prescription Drug Task Force, said the following in response to President Trump's speech on prescription drugs:
"After nearly two years of delay and dither, what we need is a pilot, not a pilot program. President Trump again fails to meaningfully deliver on Candidate Trump's repeated promises. Like a snake oil charlatan, what he delivers never matches his oversized promises. Again this year, he repeatedly promised drop prices would drop -- nope. While there is no single wonder drug to cure the prescription drug crisis, the drug Trump needs is truth serum.
"It has been 167 days since his grand Rose Garden announcement, yet nothing has sprouted. After surrendering his health care agenda to Big Pharma executives recruited into his Administration, Trump has merely nibbled around the edges with some cost-shifting proposals that do no nothing to lower prices. Here are just a few of his broken promises from this year:
- January 29: We have to get the prices of prescription drugs way down and unravel the tangled web of special interests that are driving prices up for medicine and for really hurting patients. And we're going to get that done.
- January 30: One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs. …And prices will come down substantially. Watch.
- March 19: But we pay, as a country, so much more for drugs because of the drug lobbies and other reasons, and the complexity of distribution, which is basically another term for saying, "How do we get more money?" … And we've already saved billions of dollars for our country, and it's reflected in much lower drug prices. Watch what's going to happen over a short period of time.
- May 11: Today, my administration is launching the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people. …We will have tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter. …We are getting tough on the drug makers that exploit our patent laws to choke out competition. Our patent system will reward innovation, but it will not be used as a shield to protect unfair monopolies.
- May 30: I think we're going to have some big—some of the big drug companies in two weeks. And they're going to announce—because of what we did, they're going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices.
- July 19: We are making a big push to actually reduce the prices, maybe substantially, on prescription drugs.
- August 7: We are announcing something next week which is going to get them down really, really substantially.
"It is time to call the President's bluff and ensure that pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to continue charging their monopoly prices. He should support legislation that over 100 House Democrats have offered to rein in prices under Medicare Part D, which covers the vast majority of prescription drugs, accounts for far more Medicare spending, and has a faster growth rate. The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act would authorize the HHS Secretary to directly negotiate prices for Part D and use generic competition to lower prices if a manufacturer refuses to bargain."