Drug prices are too high for many reasons, but there is just one person blocking a fix: MoscowMitchI have to admit that Pelosi’s plan to lower drug costs is more progressive than I-- or anyone else-- expected. It certainly isn't the Lloyd Doggett plan she's kept bottled up in committee, but it's a lot closer than anyone thought she would go. If passed-- McConnell will kill it and anything like it-- it would permit Medicare to negotiate with drug makers for reasonable prices on 250 commonly-used and over-priced medicines. The price they come up with isn't just for Medicare users, but for all consumers. (And it abandons the stupid proposal from Blue Dogs and other conservatives to use third-party arbitration.) Pelosi's touch is that the plan dramatically alters the way Medicare divides responsibility for drug costs between pharmaceutical companies, insurers and taxpayers. The plan would set the maximum price of a drug at 1.2 times what other wealthy countries pay for it. a step in the right direction... but a baby step-- and NOTHING like what Bernie's and Pramila Jayapal's Medicare-for-All plan would accomplish.Companies that refuse to negotiate in good faith would be fined-- which isn't as good as what Doggett's bill would do, basically ending their patent protection by allowing other companies to begin selling generic versions. All Republicans plus Democrats who take bribes from the pharmaceutical companies oppose this. The biggest drug company allies are the members who have taken the most in bribes from the drug makers. These are the dozen worst currently serving (in Congress, not in prison, where they belong):
• Fred Upton (R-MI)- $933,531• Anna Eshoo (D-CA)- $882,315• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)- $835,950• Steny Hoyer (D-MD)- $692,322• Frank Pallone (D-NJ)- chair, House Energy & Commerce- $688,670• Greg Walden (R-OR)- $632,603• Jim Clyburn (D-SC)- $607,108• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)- $445,703• Michael Burgess (R-TX)- $438,000• Richard Neal (D-MA), chair, House Ways & Means- $388,600• Brett Guthrie (R-KY)- $382,500• Diana DeGette (D-CO)- $381,275
Pelosi's plan would also force drug companies that have raised the price of drugs covered by Medicare by more than the inflation rate since 2016 to lower the price.How do we know any of this is true-- since Pelosi's bill isn't publicly available yet? On Monday, drug stocks fell sharply, particularly pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline when word got out that Congress is going to finally crackdown on runaway prescription drug prices. Ro Khanna, a strong Medicare-for-All advocate issued a statement after Pelosi's plan started circulating:"I am pleased Speaker Pelosi’s plan takes on outrageously high drug prices through direct negotiation as opposed to private arbitration, as recommended by me and my colleagues in the Progressive Caucus,” said Rep. Khanna. “I am also proud that the Speaker has drawn from parts of my Prescription Drug Price Relief Act with Senator Sanders, ensuring that we don’t pay more for drugs than citizens in other countries. I hope the Speaker considers eliminating the reported 250-drug cap on negotiations. We should not bind our hands when it comes to lowering health care costs."As she mentioned earlier this week, progressive California Central Valley congressional candidate Kim Williams explained that while she and her teams were knocking on doors all summer "the topic that came up most was healthcare. We've heard story after story about people who are on the brink of homelessness because of medical debt. We also lack care, and I, myself, have to drive two hours to get to my doctor often after waiting weeks to get an appointment. One in four adults live below the poverty line here and two-thirds of our kids are on some form of federal assistance. And if the national average holds true for this district, at least twenty percent of our residents are choosing between medicine and food. Is now really the time to be playing political football? And what is the point of holding on to a majority if you're going to put politics over people's lives? Every crisis families in this district face is directly tied to political neglect, and it's long past time for change.Kim backs Medicare-for-All. The thermometer above is so that you can contribute to candidates for Congress who are campaigning on a Medicare-for-All plank In light of what she had to say, let me reprint something published by the NY Times yesterday: "About 27.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act took full effect in 2014, and experts said it was at least partly the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law." And that's what happens when you vote for conservatives.J.D. Scholten also backs Medicare-for-All. "Lowering the cost of prescription drugs is a no-brainer," he told me. "As I’m driving around my district in Sioux City Sue, I frequently stop into gas stations and see a donation box on the counter for someone who just got sick or just got into an accident. The skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs plays a huge role in the unaffordability of our healthcare crisis. Ultimately, this all comes back to money. Big Pharma and healthcare lobbyists have wormed their way into Washington and have politicians bought and paid for. The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries pay for access and the ability to write legislation that benefits themselves meanwhile Americans across the country are forced to choose between life-saving prescription drugs and their rent. Big pharma shouldn’t be holding the health of Americans hostage, and politicians shouldn’t be giving them the tools to do it. My campaign is proud to refuse corporate PAC money and supports Doggett’s bill to negotiate drug prices and Medicare for All. Meanwhile, my opponent, Steve King refused to co-sponsor Lloyd Doggett's bill to lower drug prices, continues to take corporate PAC money, and peddles his own selfish agenda at the expense of Iowa’s 4th district."