McConnell: Prescription Drug Socialism Leaves Patients With Higher Costs, Fewer Cures
‘The Biden-Harris Administration itself has used similar language to describe another socialist-inspired price control scheme: this one to combat supposed price gouging in the market for life-saving pharmaceutical treatments. And so far, prescription drug socialism is not working out well. According to a recent study, nearly 3.5 million beneficiaries are expected to pay higher out-of-pocket costs as a result of the Administration’s proposed scheme.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding prescription drug socialism:
“One of the few details Vice President Harris has shared about her governing agenda is a pledge to implement price controls at the grocery store to end so-called ‘price gouging.’
“The eerie echoes of Marxist propaganda in that talking point have already attracted attention. But we don’t have to dig too far back into the history books to find an example that she may be drawing from.
“The Biden-Harris Administration itself has used similar language to describe another socialist-inspired price control scheme: this one to combat supposed price gouging in the market for life-saving pharmaceutical treatments.
“And so far, prescription drug socialism is not working out well. According to a recent study, nearly 3.5 million beneficiaries are expected to pay higher out-of-pocket costs as a result of the Administration’s proposed scheme.
“But that hasn’t stopped them. Last month, the Administration released the Maximum Fair Price for the first 10 medicines selected for its coercive negotiation program.
“Of course, when you dig into the details, the scheme sounds less like a negotiation than a shakedown.
“If the dictated Maximum Fair Price is not feasible, drug makers have two choices: they can pay an exorbitant excise fee, or they can withdraw entirely from participating in Medicaid and Medicare.
“Remember, the real losers from this misguided policy are the vulnerable patients who are left with fewer lifesaving cures.
“Roche and AstraZeneca have indicated that they will be discontinuing certain drug trials or considering delaying launching cancer medications due to financial penalties from the Inflation Reduction Act.
“And yet, Biden and Harris seem largely unbothered.
“Last month, President Biden went on the road to celebrate the results of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, an accomplishment I was very proud to partner with him on.
“But he hasn’t reckoned with estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act could eliminate nine times the amount of funding for cancer research that the Cancer Moonshot created.
“Vice President Harris, similarly blinded to the consequences of her work, has recently bragged about her role in passing the Inflation Reduction Act!
“I can’t imagine that Americans facing rare disease diagnoses are as proud of that record as she is.”
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Related Issues: Health Care
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