SOUTH BURLINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on legislation pushed by Rep. Peter Welch to lower prescription drug prices and save Medicare billions of dollars over the next decade.
The measure has been a top priority for Welch, D-Vt., who worked with the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., to move the bill forward. If enacted, the legislation could save Medicare $345 billion over the next 10 years.
“He and I have been working together for over a decade and trying to bring price negotiation legislation to the floor of the House, in an effort to lower dramatically the incredible rip-off prices that pharma charges all Americans and all American businesses and taxpayers,” Welch told reporters at the Burlington International Airport Monday.
The bill would change current rules that bar the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from negotiating drug prices for Medicare, health insurance offered by the federal government for people 65 and over.
Under the measure, HHS would be authorized every year to negotiate lower prices on as many as 250 of the most expensive prescription drugs. Those savings would then go to non-government health plans.
The bill also levies a penalty — starting at 65% of the gross sales of the drug in question — on companies that fail to come to an agreement or refuse to negotiate with the federal government.
When President Donald Trump was campaigning across the country in 2016, he supported lowering the cost of prescription drugs. In 2017, Welch and Cummings shared a draft of their bill with him and asked his support for their legislation. But since House Democrats began their impeachment investigation into his actions with Ukraine, the president has not signaled he would sign this measure.
“Will he come on board at a certain point? I would hope so,” Welch said of the president. “If he did, that could be a game changer.”
Welch and other House Democrats have been working with Alex Azar, secretary of HHS, and White House staff to try to broker a deal on the legislation the president could get behind.
“It’s a work in progress with them, but what I’ve seen is some seriousness of purpose within the administration about wanting to do something that will bring down cost,” Welch said.
However, he said, “They haven’t given us an indication that they would support the House bill.”
The legislation already includes a proposal championed by Trump — that the U.S. pay the same price for prescription drugs that other countries like France, Germany, Belgium and others pay.
On Dec. 10, ahead of a hearing on the bill in the House Rules Committee, the office of the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., released a memo outlining the provisions of the measure that Trump has previously stated he supports.
But while Welch and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have touted the significance of the measure, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have said the bill does not go far enough to curb the power of pharmaceutical companies and have threatened its 98 members would vote down the bill.
Progressive Democrats have attempted to add last minute additions to the legislation, including increasing the number of drugs that can have their prices negotiated by the HHS secretary.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who along with Cummings introduced legislation at the beginning of the new Congress to address the rising prices of pharmaceuticals, tweeted his support for progressive House members to amend the bill.
Sanders has close ties with a number of the caucus members — including Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and has won endorsements from several of them for his presidential bid.
“The Lower Drug Costs Now Act goes after Big Pharma’s greed and makes important investments in community health centers and dental care for those on Medicare. @USProgressives are fighting to make this bill even stronger, and I support their efforts,” Sanders tweeted.
Sanders’ Senate office did not respond to a request for comment clarifying his position on the price negotiating bill if the House passes it unamended.
In January, Sanders announced his support for the House price negotiating legislation and two other bills that would lower prescription drug costs.
On Monday, during a closed-door meeting, Pelosi warned against progressives trying to change the legislation, Politico reported.
“Bad idea,” Pelosi reportedly said.
There is twin legislation waiting in the Senate. However, it seems unlikely that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will take up the proposal when the House passes it.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., is pressing ahead with a bill targeting patent abuse in the drug industry, which would also reduce drug prices. Trump has already said he supports that legislation and Welch says he has been actively discussing the price negotiation bill with Grassley.
“Who knows what happens in the Senate,” Welch said Monday.
