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New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone is taking another stab at trying to get the folks on Capitol Hill to cut the cost of prescription drugs.
He has reintroduced a bill that would do just that, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act. It passed the House in 2019 but died in the Senate.
Pallone, who is chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said, at a virtual press conference hosted by Protect Our Care New Jersey, that the situation is dire.
“A Kaiser Family Foundation poll recently found that 1 in 4 Americans who take prescription medications find them to be unaffordable,” he said, “and nearly 1 in 3 adults in the US report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost.”
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(Paul Sancya | AP file photo)
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By Gordon S. Jones | Special to The Tribune
| April 27, 2021, 9:00 p.m.
In 1963, Maurice Hilleman, a scientist at Merck, was asleep in his bedroom when his daughter woke him, complaining of a sore throat. After noticing that her jaw was swollen, Hilleman swabbed her throat and rushed to his lab. Four years later, his mumps vaccine was saving lives.
Guest column: Health care plan takes physicians, patients out of equation
Letters from readers
As a physician, I am privy to the devastating toll that high out-of-pocket costs have on my patients. No one should have to worry about going broke to pay for medication.
Desperate to tackle rising drug costs, lawmakers are discussing a host of ideas. But some of their well-intentioned schemes come with serious side effects. Unfortunately, a measure that s once again gaining traction in Congress H.R.3, or the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act falls into this category.
Democratic lawmakers are hinting that they may revive H.R.3 by incorporating it into an upcoming infrastructure bill, which they could fast-track via the special legislative process known as budget reconciliation. Since this process only requires a simple majority to pass, H.R.3 could end up on the president s desk without bipartisan support.
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The U.S. House of Representatives is considering dueling proposals related to drug pricing under Medicaid and Medicare, including the Republican-led H.R. 19, the “Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2021” and a reintroduced version of the Democrat-led “Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act,” originally introduced in 2019 (and hereinafter referred to) as H.R. 3. Although the bills diverge in various material respects, both would implement sweeping changes related to drug coverage and price reporting. At the same time that the House considers these proposals, Senate Democrats are urging President Biden to include major drug pricing legislation in the second phase of his infrastructure plan. The White House has been silent to date on whether drug pricing will be addressed in the next proposed infrastructure package.