New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone is taking another stab at trying to get the folks on Capitol Hill to cut the cost of prescription drugs.
He has reintroduced a bill that would do just that, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act. It passed the House in 2019 but died in the Senate.
Pallone, who is chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said, at a virtual press conference hosted by Protect Our Care New Jersey, that the situation is dire.
“A Kaiser Family Foundation poll recently found that 1 in 4 Americans who take prescription medications find them to be unaffordable,” he said, “and nearly 1 in 3 adults in the US report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost.”
The bill would give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug costs — the most effective way to bring down drug prices.
Another new poll shows virtually all voters, 93% of those questioned, want Medicare to have the power to negotiate lower drug prices.
Pallone was asked how he plans to get a different outcome this time around.
“My goal is to attach this to whatever I can and that would certainly include this overall jobs bill if you will,” he said, “that the president and the House leadership and Senate leadership are now putting together.”
He was also asked if the bill can get through Congress without support from the GOP.
“I would like to have Republican support and we’ll get some,” he said, “but the key to the Republicans is they don’t want negotiated prices and so we’ll have to see what vehicle -- I’m gonna use whatever vehicle I can to get this done.”