CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — While three House committees have approved H.R. 3, known as the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, some legislators in our region still have issues with the legislation.
“While lowering prescription drug costs should be a goal of this Congress, it’s unfortunate that a partisan and highly flawed bill is being moved forward,” Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-5th District) told exploreClarion.com.
“Yet again, we are presented a bill that will not see the light of day in the Senate, primarily because it would lead to nationwide job losses, the stifling of medical research and innovation, and would do very little to ease prices for Pennsylvania’s families.”
The bill, which was introduced on September 19, 2019, and sponsored by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), has been approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, and the Education and Labor Committee.
It has seen major backing from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).
The legislation would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate lower maximum drug prices directly with manufacturers, utilizing a benchmark based on prices for the target drugs in six developed countries (namely Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom), which generally have lower prices than the United States.
Proponents of the bill say it would stop drug companies from overcharging Americans while charging residents of other countries less for the same drugs and still allow for reinvestment in innovation and the search for new cures and treatments by using some of the Medicare and Medicaid savings from lowering prices to to invest in the search for new breakthrough treatments and cures through the National Institutes of Health.
Nevertheless, opponents argue the bill will stifle research and development for new drugs within the wider pharmaceuticals industry.
“In HR3, while some of the things we agree with, I think the danger of what’s being proposed where the government negotiates prices and determines that, it will determine then what actually goes onto the shelves, what actually goes to market,” Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) stated in a recent hearing.
“In Pennsylvania there are 254,000 jobs, by the way, that are involved in the biopharmaceutical business. There’s a lot at risk here.”
Despite the opposition, H.R. 3 is expected to go before the full House in mid-November. Having passed in the three committees, the bill will likely receive approval by the House. Still, its future in the Senate remains to be seen.
