A.G. Gancarski
A key interest group on Thursday backed a prescription drug proposal from Florida’s junior U.S. Senator.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) endorsed the We Protect American Investment in Drugs (PAID) Act of 2019
In supporting the bill, the AARP noted that fixed-income seniors are being adversely impacted by spiraling drug costs.
“Medicare Part D enrollees take an average of four to five prescriptions per month, and over two-thirds have two or more concurrent chronic illnesses. When older Americans talk about the impact of high prescription drug prices, they are often talking about costs that they will face every year for the rest of their lives. The annual median income of Medicare beneficiaries is just over $26,000. One-quarter have less than $15,000 in savings,” the endorsement asserted.
The so-called We PAID Act, per a media release from Scott’s office, bars pharmaceutical concerns from charging “unreasonable prices” for life-saving drugs developed with federal funds.
As our Scott Powers reported, that would mean almost every drug developed this decade.
Sens. Scott and-co-sponsor Chris Van Hollen said, “The We PAID Act is a common-sense way to reduce the cost of prescription drug prices, and we thank the AARP for their support.”
“Families across our nation, including seniors, are struggling to afford the prescription drugs they need to survive,” the joint statement added.
“There is no reason drug companies that use taxpayer dollars to develop prescription drugs should be raking in profits by charging unreasonable prices to American patients. This bill prevents that, and we urge all of our colleagues to join us in support of this common-sense, bipartisan legislation,” Scott concluded.
This bill is part of a tranche of health care legislation from the Senator, who came to prominence as a health care executive.
The Transparent Drug Pricing Act would require that drug companies charge no more for drugs in the United States than they charge in a set of other countries, notably Canada, Great Britain and Germany.
That bill was blasted by a large coalition of conservative organizations that charged it was anti-free market competition.
