WASHINGTON, D.C. — AARP and Patients For Affordable Drugs Now sent a letter calling on the Senate to pass the provisions to lower drug prices in the Build Back Better Act that were painstakingly negotiated earlier this year, and to reject any amendments that would weaken these provisions.
“Reducing drug prices is not an afterthought for the American people: It is the single most popular element of the Build Back Better plan. Indeed, a recent independent survey showed overwhelming public support, with more than 8 out of 10 Americans, regardless of party, supporting this reform,” Nancy A. LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer at AARP, and David Mitchell, cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, say in the letter. “We urge you to pass the prescription drug pricing deal and firmly reject any efforts to weaken it.”
The Build Back Better Act includes drug pricing legislation that will, for the first time, authorize Medicare to negotiate prices directly for some of the most expensive prescription medicines, including insulin; institute a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries; and limit annual price increases to stop price gouging by drug corporations.
“If prices for other products rose at the same rate as prescription drugs [over the past 15 years], a gallon of milk would now cost $13, and a gallon of gas would cost $12.20,” the letter continues. “These kinds of price increases on other consumer goods would rightfully demand swift action, but seniors have been waiting decades for relief from out-of-control drug prices.”
Read the full letter here and below. |
