WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to President Trump’s statements tonight on drug prices, David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
“The President sent a clear signal to Senate leadership that it’s time to pass Chairman Grassley’s bill to stop drug company price gouging. Contrary to the President’s claim, drug prices are not coming down, they continue to go up. The House of Representatives has done its job in passing H.R. 3. It’s time for the Senate to pass legislation that will bring Americans relief from skyrocketing drug prices.”
BACKGROUND:
Drug prices keep rising.
- GoodRx: “So far in 2020: 628 drugs have increased by an average of 6.1%.”
- CNN: “Drug makers hiked prices on hundreds of medications for 2020.”
- Axios: “It may be a new year, but the same drugs are once again subject to the same industry practices.”
Americans keep paying more.
- Fiscal Times: “U.S. drug prices were nearly four times higher than average prices compared to similar countries.”
- Axios: Americans will be forced to pay 80 percent more for Humira than those in Europe through 2023.
- The New York Times: “A government study said Medicare was paying 80 percent more than other advanced industrial countries for some of the most costly physician-administered medicines.”
Patients keep hurting.
- Kaiser Family Foundation: Nearly one in four Americans report difficulty affording their prescription drugs.
- Insulin rationing deaths reported in 2018 and 2019 include Americans with diabetes who were 21, 24, 27, and 28 years old.
- Children and families are forced to fundraise, enter lotteries, and campaign in the media for the medication.
People want change.
- A Kaiser Family Foundation January 2020 poll found that drug pricing is the top health care priority for all Americans — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in the 2020 election year.
- 87% of Americans “say it is at least very important that Congress work on lowering prescription drug costs.”
- More Americans think it is very important for Congress to address high drug costs than it is to protect pre-existing health conditions, address surprise billing, do more to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic, or address vaping and e-cigarette use among teenagers.
- 88% of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices.
