While we got a bit of a break from House Democratic shenanigans in the midst of the peak Coronavirus shutdown and the House’s subsequent recess, they are back to business crafting leftwing progressive legislation. On Monday, the House is poised to vote on H.R. 1425 or the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act.

This legislation contains aspects of the House passed H.R. 3 or Speaker Pelosi’s socialist drug scheme. Key aspects of H.R. 3 included forcing drug companies to use the negotiated drug prices by Medicare when working with private insurers, implementing price controls, and setting a $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. If enacted into law, this legislation would have led to less drug research and development — a vital aspect of the medical field, especially in light of COVID-19 treatment.

The Senate rightly never picked up the Socialist Drug Scheme and now House Democrats have moved forward with their attack on the nation’s healthcare system in H.R. 1425. This legislation contains aspects of H.R. 3 and in doing so the minority Republican House members dubbed the legislation the Slow COVID Cures Act. Specifically, the legislation allows the government the power to set drug prices and gives government bureaucrats more power to “negotiate” the price by setting a maximum price for the drug and if the manufacturer refuses to “negotiate,” the manufacturer is punished with a revenue tax of up to 95 percent until they comply.

In a time when research and development are vital to the development of vaccines and drugs to combat the Coronavirus, you’d think the Democrats would want to encourage R & D instead of hampering it. To add to these measures, the Slow COVID Cures Act also provides $400 million for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment, $100 million for outreach and enrollment, and $200 million for states to boost ACA enrollment. The legislation also gives $10 billion in bailouts for insurance companies every year with no sunset provision and contains provisions to expand Medicaid.

This legislation will significantly add to the nation's $26 trillion national debt and further make the healthcare system dependent on the government. Please join Eagle Forum in asking your Representative to vote NO on H.R. 1425 the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act.