Pro & Con Quotes: Should the US Government Regulate Prescription Drug Prices?

“The high cost of prescription drugs is a major concern for many Americans. Nearly 9 in 10 older adults take prescription medication, yet high drug prices are leading to soaring out-of-pocket costs, dangerous drug rationing, and a depletion of limited financial resources—especially for those with fixed incomes…. In particular, the drug pricing provisions… would enable the federal government to finally negotiate drug prices—a policy supported by more than 80 percent of the public….

Congress has the opportunity to pass drug pricing legislation that would be life-changing for millions of older adults. More than 4 in 5 seniors think drug costs are unreasonable. Senators should take the overwhelmingly popular step of enabling the federal government to negotiate prices. Lowering drug prices through negotiation, inflationary rebates, and insulin and cost-sharing caps would allow people—especially those with chronic conditions and disabilities—to access the treatment they need.

Senators have the power to meaningfully lower prices for some of the nation’s most expensive drugs—drugs that treat cancer, prevent blood clots, and treat autoimmune disorders. Passing drug price negotiations and other key drug reforms is a critical step toward lowering drug costs for millions of Americans.”

“I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and families in the Build Back Better legislation.

Fixing prescription drug pricing has consistently been a top issue for Americans year-after-year, including the vast majority of both Democrats and Republicans who want to see a change because they simply cannot afford their medications.

We’ve heard this from people across the country who have serious illnesses and can’t afford their medicine. What a painstaking position to be in. It’s horrible.

Today, we have taken a massive step forward in helping alleviate that problem. By empowering Medicare to directly negotiate prices in Part B and Part D, this deal will directly reduce out-of-pocket drug spending for millions of patients every time they visit the pharmacy or doctor.

It will cap out-of-pocket spending at $2,000 per year, ending the days where a life-changing diagnosis could mean thousands upon thousands of dollars in new expenses.

And it will reform the entire industry to stop price gouging and change both drug company and health insurer incentives to make sure our country’s drug pricing system benefits patients, not corporations.”

[Editor’s Note: The Build Back Better Act was passed by the US House of Representatives on Nov. 19, 2021 and was sent to the Senate for consideration. As of Apr. 6, 2022, the Senate had not voted on the act.]

“Legislation giving Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices in the United States would make their life-saving potential immediately available to millions of Americans who cannot now afford them, thus extending lives and alleviating suffering. The pharmaceutical industry, however, has done a masterful job of arguing that these Americans must suffer in the short term since lower prices would gut long-term innovation in drug development.

This is a false choice. We need not trade the certainty of saved lives now for the possibility of saved lives in the future.

The reason: Large pharmaceutical companies are nowhere near as important to real drug innovation as they purport to be. Furthermore, smart policy changes can sustain and increase the pace of life-changing breakthroughs in biomedicine through increased funding of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), cutting the costs and accelerating the speed of clinical trials, and reforming patent law to stop innovation-blocking abuses used by Big Pharma to prevent new drugs from entering the market.”

“America is the undisputed global leader in drug research and development, and pharmaceutical companies warn that imposing controls on drug prices — like those currently being debated in Congress — will stifle that innovation. But many Americans, including the well insured, cannot afford the innovative drugs produced by that research….

Excessively high prescription drug prices are a substantial financial burden on Americans… but they also raise insurance premiums and taxes for you and me by increasing costs for insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid. Society will pay the other $200,000 through those higher premiums and taxes….

I’m an oncologist who has seen his patients reap huge benefits from the kind of high-priced innovation drug companies love to talk about. I’m also a health-policy specialist who has looked carefully at the long-term impact of drug company prices and profits. I’m convinced that we don’t have to choose between reasonable prices and innovation. The truth is, if Congress passes legislation to give Medicare negotiating power to make drugs more affordable, we will still have robust innovation.”