Trump Promised Lower Drug Prices... But He Has Moscow Mitch Blocking Both Democratic And Republican

[TexasTowelie]

Trump Promised Lower Drug Prices... But He Has Moscow Mitch Blocking Both Democratic And Republican Bills That Would Do That. Why Is He Such A Dick?


I was on the phone a few minutes ago, talking with a super-progressive running for a congressional seat in central Texas and she brought up Lloyd Doggett, chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, and more progressive than anyone else in the Texas congressional delegation. Some people consider his bill, the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2019 (H.R.1046) too radical; it would help too many working families and infuriate too many Big PhRMA executives, lobbyists and donors. Doggett's bill "requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies regarding prices for drugs covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Current law prohibits the CMS from doing so.) The CMS must take certain factors into account during negotiations, including the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of the drug, the financial burden on patients, and unmet patient needs. If the CMS is unable to negotiate the price of a drug, such drug is subject to competitive licensing in order to further its sale under Medicare, notwithstanding existing government-granted exclusivities. Additionally, for one year after a drug is provided under a competitive license, such drug is also subject to specified price limitations; if the drug is not offered at such prices, the drug is subject to additional licensing that furthers its sale under any federal program (e.g., Medicaid)." Doggett has 127 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

The bill was too much for Pelosi and Hoyer and it remains bottled up in Frank Pallone's Energy and Commerce Committee, where Pallone will make sure it never sees the light of day. Instead, Pelosi passed a meh bill-- better than nothing but not nearly as good as Doggett's bill.

But even that bill, that passed the House with bipartisan support-- and a nod from Trump-- is being prevented from getting a debate, let alone a vote, by Moscow Mitch in the most dysfunctional Senate in American history. Marianne Levine and Sarah Karlin-Smith reported on the morass the struggle to lower the cost of drugs is experiencing in the GOP-controlled Senate for Politico over the weekend.

An even less helpful bill was approved by the Senate Finance Committee (19-9) but the Finance Committee chair who's sponsoring it, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), says McConnell won't even let that one come to the floor. He said Trump-- who is probably just pretending to want to lower drug prices-- would have to lean on Moscow Mitch and tell him to put it up for a floor vote. There's no question that it would pass, but Trump doesn't really want it to pass, as long as he doesn't get the blame for it not passing.

Read more: https://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2019/12/trump-promised-lower-drug-prices-but-he.html