This week, freshman U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., unveiled the “Drug Price Transparency Act” which, he insists, will lower drug prices for seniors.
Rooney introduced the bill on Thursday. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is the only cosponsor. The bill would “provide for a study and report on the feasibility of basing reimbursement rates for Medicare part B drugs and covered part D drugs on the average prices for such drugs in the member-states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.”
The Southwest Florida Republican offered his rationale for introducing the legislation.
“Skyrocketing drug prices are an unacceptable burden for our senior citizens,” Rooney said on Thursday. “Americans pay much more for prescription drugs than seniors in other developed countries. In fact, beneficiaries of Medicare Parts B and D are often unfairly burdened for 20 percent of the cost of some of their most expensive medications.
“It is long past time to right this wrong,” Rooney added. “I introduced the Drug Price Transparency Act to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to study the feasibility of linking Medicare Part B and D drug prices to the average price of such drugs in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, where the same drugs are often cheaper than in the United States. This is a good first step to publicly showing Americans how greatly we overpay for the same drugs in other developed countries.”
“Skyrocketing drug prices are crushing hardworking Americans and preventing sick patients from accessing breakthrough medicines,” said Welch. “This bipartisan legislation will expose pharmaceutical price gouging in this country so we can fix a broken market and reform the way lifesaving drugs are bought and sold.”
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. So far, there is no related legislation over in the U.S. Senate.
READ MORE FROM SUNSHINE STATE NEWS
