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New Report:
Allowing the government to negotiate Medicare
Drug Prices would save taxpayers $30 billion
annually... Grassroots Coalition kicks-off
campaign to urge Senators to take action
WASHINGTON, April 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Taxpayers across the country would save $30
billion in prescription drug costs if the
federal government were directed to negotiate
with pharmaceutical companies over Medicare drug
prices, according to a new report released today
by the Institute for America's Future.
With 85 percent
of the country favoring the use of Medicare's collective bargaining
power to lower prescription drug prices, Americans are using the
Congressional recess to push for the elimination of a controversial
provision in The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that prohibits
the government from interfering in negotiations between Part D plan
participants and drug makers.
House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, were joined by several Republicans
in passing legislation to remove the
provision in January. Now senate leaders are
pushing for a vote following the
congressional recess.
Sen. Debbie
Stabenow, D-Mich., joined Campaign for America's Future co-director
and report co-author Roger Hickey on a conference call with
reporters today to release the new report. Sen. Stabenow said
there's no excuse for gouging older Americans who depend on
prescription drugs to live with extra costs.
"When so many Americans struggle to pay for the
prescription drugs they need, it doesn't make
sense to prohibit the federal government from
negotiating the lowest possible drug prices on
behalf of the 44 million seniors and people with
disabilities who rely on Medicare," said Sen.
Stabenow. "The Senate must act to provide
Medicare recipients the access to affordable
prescription drugs they need and deserve."
Hickey described
a renewed campaign, led by the Change America Now (CAN) Coalition,
to get the Senate to act, noting that the time for action is now.
"Drug prices are
too expensive and the savings from negotiating prices are too great
to ignore," said Hickey. "Activists across the country are holding
Congress' feet to the fire. Congress needs to step up to the plate
to lower prescription drug prices. The House has taken the first
step. It's time for the Senate to follow suit."
The CAN
Coalition was created by the Campaign for America's Future,
Americans United For Change and USAction to help push Speaker
Pelosi's "100 Hour Agenda" through the U.S. House with overwhelming
bipartisan majorities. The coalition is now turning its attention to
the U.S. Senate.
CAN plans to
release reports and run grassroots activities in dozens of states,
demanding to know what position senators will take on negotiating
drug prices. States where CAN will be asking tough questions include
Minn., Ore., N.H., Ohio, Maine and Pa.
Center for
Economic and Policy Research co-director and report co-author Dean
Baker, also joined Sen. Stabenow and Hickey on today's call. Baker
said it's time to undo the self-serving provisions of the past.
"We can provide
this benefit at a much lower cost to both older Americans and the
overnment, with less bureaucracy for beneficiaries," said Baker. "As
a nation, we must first put the interests of seniors ahead of the
interests of the drug companies."
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