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LOWERING COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. Lee) for 5 minutes.
Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as Americans continue to face a prescription drug crisis.
Americans pay three to four times more than families in other developed countries for the exact same drugs. Kids, families, seniors, we all feel the effects of skyrocketing prices of medications.
Mr. Speaker, insulin costs have grown to 10 times that of any other developed country, with annual costs per patient, for just the insulin, now at nearly $6,000.
One in four seniors reports difficulty affording their prescriptions, with one in five reporting not taking their medication because of the cost.
This is heartbreaking. It is unacceptable, and it demands that we, as Members of Congress, must take action now.
Whether it is H.R. 3, empowering Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, which will bring down prescription costs, not just for seniors, but for individuals and families across America, or my bill, the Seniors SAVE on Prescription Drugs Act, which will strengthen senior savings and expand access to the Medicare Part D Extra Help program.
It is time for us to lower drug prices, lower premiums, and lower out-of-pocket costs for American families. And it is time to take action and end our prescription drug crisis now.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 131
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