Originally Posted in My Chesco

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, Representative Chrissy Houlahan voted to pass H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which aims to lower the cost of prescriptions drugs. The high cost of prescription drugs is the issue that Rep. Houlahan hears most consistently about from constituents. This bipartisan bill passed the House 230-192.

“I promised my community that I would fight to lower the high cost of prescription drugs,” said Houlahan. “Last weekend, a man shared with me a heartbreaking story.

“He was standing in line at the drugstore when he realized a woman ahead of him did not have enough money to pay for her prescription. She had the exact amount of cash and change in her hand for the amount that it had cost the last time. But the price had gone up, so she was short about $10. The gentleman offered to pay the additional $10, for which this woman was terrifically grateful. She offered to repay him, but she said it would take her a couple of months to be able to do so. The gentleman sharing this story asked the correct question: ‘Who cares for her?’

“The answer is ‘We do. Congress does.’

“[Yesterday], I honored my promise to my community by passing the Lower Drug Costs Now Act – a bill that focuses exactly on this issue – making prescription drugs more affordable for every Pennsylvanian, for every American.

“I took [the] vote for that woman, for the man who helped her, and for every Pennsylvanian struggling with the rising cost of prescription drugs.”

This bill will:

• Ensure seniors can get a fair price for the prescriptions they need by granting the Secretary of HHS the ability to directly negotiate drug prices for Medicare, capping Part D out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 and restructuring catastrophic coverage, and creating penalties for price hikes that outpace inflation.
• Create requirements and incentives to expand these protections and lower prices to the entire market, including private insurance, group health insurance, the VA, and more, to give health and financial security to all Americans.
• Reinvest billions in innovation and the search for new cures and treatments at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and through other means.
• Reinvest in Medicare by providing vision, dental, and hearing coverage.