Casey Calls on Administration to Lower Prescription Drug Prices
CMS, FDA and HHS OIG Testify at Aging Committee Hearing
Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, held the final hearing in a three-part series on ways to lower prescription drug prices. During the hearing entitled, “The Complex Web of Prescription Drug Prices, Part III: Examining Agency Efforts to Further Competition and Increase Affordability,” Sen. Casey questioned Trump Administration officials about initiatives to reduce prescription drug prices at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
“With flat wages and the ever-increasing cost of living, the price of prescription drugs is like a bag of rocks on the backs of many families,” said Senator Casey. “It is our sacred responsibility to our aging loved ones, children and families that they are not forced to shoulder the crushing bag of rocks that prescription drug costs have become. Congress must enact commonsense policies to bring down the price of medications.”
During the hearing, Sen. Casey reiterated his support for allowing Medicare to use its purchasing power to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, a policy supported by 95 percent of Americans, according to recent polling conducted by Arnold Ventures. He also called for Congress to take up and pass his bipartisan legislation, the Prescription Drug Pricing Dashboard Act, to bring greater transparency to prescription drug spending in Medicare and Medicaid.
Previously, the Special Committee on Aging held two hearings on prescription drug prices. At those hearings, Sen. Casey spoke with patients about their struggles to afford needed medications and introduced two bills to make prescription drugs more affordable.
Read Sen. Casey’s Medicare Extra Rx HELP Act.
Read Sen. Casey’s Prescription Drug Pricing Dashboard Act.
Watch Part I of the Prescription Drug Prices Hearing.
Watch Part II of the Prescription Drug Prices Hearing.
