[W]ASHINGTON — One day before President Donald Trump is due to unveil his plan to lower prescription drug prices, Democrats on Capitol Hill called on him to incorporate their proposals.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined Democratic congressional leaders, in urging the president to adopt new rules that would lower the cost of prescriptions for Americans.
The Democratic party has backed drug importation from other countries and lifting a restriction that bars Medicare from negotiating with companies on drug prices.
All three members of Vermont’s delegation, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have worked on prescription drug pricing bills.
Sanders said the political discussions about prescription drug pricing have been driven by the pharmaceutical manufacturing lobby.
“At a time when corporate America has unprecedented wealth and power, the pharmaceutical industry distinguishes itself as perhaps the most greedy and irresponsible corporate entity,” Sanders said.
Sanders encouraged the president to support a measure that would allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the prices are lower.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said that pharmaceutical companies “dangle” medication before patients, but that the costs can be prohibitively expensive.
“We acknowledge that drug companies make life extending and pain relieving drugs, and that’s a good thing but the price gouging is killing patients,” Welch said. “They can’t afford it.”
Trump said the “right things,” according to Welch, who with Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., met with the president at the White House last year to talk about the issue of drug pricing last year.
Cummings and Welch pitched a bill that would allow federal health officials to negotiate with drug companies to set prescription prices for Medicare. The practice is commonplace for private health insurance companies, but is not permitted under the current system.
The White House has not responded to the proposal, despite initial enthusiasm from the president and multiple attempts to follow up.
“What has happened in this Congress and under this president is that there has been no protection for consumers and maximum protection for the pricing power of Big Pharma,” Welch said. “That has got to end.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was not at the press conference, but will also watch to see if the president will incorporate a measure he has pushed that would bar pharmaceutical companies from using tactics that delay generic drugs from hitting the market.
The bill, the CREATES Act, has bipartisan support in the Senate. According to Leahy, it was poised to advance as part of a continuing resolution early this year, but was jettisoned late in negotiations.
“While many efforts to reduce drug costs are partisan, the CREATES Act enjoys equal support from Democrats and Republicans,” Leahy said in a statement Thursday.
Though the president has often discussed drug pricing, Leahy said, he hasn’t taken action so far.
“I hope tomorrow we won’t hear more empty promises, but instead a pledge to support meaningful reform to lower the costs of prescription drugs,” he said.
The Vermont Legislature has approved a bill that would set a plan in motion that would allow importation of prescription drugs from Canada. Gov. Phil Scott said Thursday he will sign the proposal. Though he is not sure it will work, he said it is worth trying.
This story was updated 5:39 p.m. on May 11 with Gov. Phil Scott’s latest position on the Vermont bill.
