Congress may move to lower drug prices later this year or next
Maybe — just maybe — Americans will get some relief from the relentlessly rising prices of pharmaceuticals.That, of course depends on Congress pushing back against the drug companies’ formidable lobbying machine, their generous campaign contributions and the industry’s historical coziness with members of Congress. But this year seems different.
When you consider that the country’s spending on prescription drugs increased by 28 percent from 2011 to 2016, it’s easy to see why it’s harder for politicians to ignore the public anger over prices of life-saving medicines they can’t afford.
Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, who heads the Senate Finance Committee and has co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to tackle drug prices, has said that passing a bill to control drug prices will be essential to Republicans’ “keeping a majority in the Senate.” Grassley went further. “Eventually it will come down to this. There are 22 Republicans up for election this year, and if it’s like in my state ... there is a great deal of disgust with the rapidly increasing prices of drugs.”
Is a breakthrough really at hand?
I checked in with David Mitchell, a former public relations executive and now a cancer patient, who has been leading a grassroots effort to challenge Congressional thinking about drug prices. Mitchell’s organization, Patients for Affordable Drugs, has heard from some 20,000 patients recounting the troubles they’ve had paying for their medicines. Many of these people have told their stories to Congress. I’ve written about Mitchell in this space earlier and wanted to know how his organization was faring in its quest for cheaper drugs.
Mitchell was upbeat. “The fact we’ve gotten this far, and there’s still talk of getting something meaningful done is remarkable,” he said. “The anger is really boiling up, and elected officials know and feel this anger can cost them their jobs if they don’t do something.” The issue is, he said, can a compromise be reached that will get to the president’s desk?
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