Prescription medicines have become a vital part of our health care system, and it is our responsibility to pass a meaningful prescription drug benefits through Medicare so that seniors will have access to the treatments that their doctors prescribe. Unfortunately, the drug reimportation language that the Republican leadership included in this bill falls far short of this important goal.
Prices for the 50 most prescribed drugs for senior citizens have been going up, on average, at twice the rate of inflation over the past six years. As the price of prescription medicines has soared, our nation’s elderly and disabled populations have found it harder and harder to afford the treatments that their doctors prescribe.
Although it cannot replace a real prescription drug benefit through Medicare, drug reimportation holds great promise for reducing prescription drug costs. However, the Republican reimportation provision is filled with loopholes that will prevent seniors from seeing any real savings.
The Republican proposal contains several provisions that unnecessarily restrict the supply of reimported prescription drugs and increase their cost. First, they limit the medicines eligible for reimportation and the number of countries from which they can be imported. Second, drug companies have the option of refusing to allow reimporters to use FDA-approved labeling for their products. This allows these companies to increase the price of reimported drugs by charging outrageously high prices for the use of the label. Third, this language does nothing to prevent pharmaceutical companies from discriminating against US consumers by forcing restrictive contract terms on foreign distributors.
Finally, the Republican proposal is not permanent. By allowing this legislation to sunset after five years, the Republicans are giving pharmaceutical companies yet another opportunity to kill prescription drug legislation that they do not like.
The Democratic proposal provides seniors with access to lower price drugs, subject to strict safety testing, without any of these harmful loopholes. Seniors deserve real prescription drug savings, not another empty promise from Republicans. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question.