Yesterday, three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted NO on giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices in the upcoming reconciliation package.
Why would they vote no on a policy that would lower the cost of prescriptions for everyone (not just for seniors on Medicare), and save the federal government between $300 billion and $478 billion dollars a year? Unfortunately, this isn’t hard to figure out.
Here’s how much their electoral campaigns each received from Big Pharma:
Lowering drug prices is a life and death issue. The actions of these three representatives to allow Big Pharma to continue their greedy profiteering at the hands of the sick and elderly is shameful.
If you’re not on Twitter, that’s okay. You can call their offices and share your thoughts directly.
The good news is that the House Ways and Means Committee did approve strong drug price negotiation language. There’s still a chance we can win this and other Medicare improvements and expansion in the reconciliation bill. But we need your help to make that happen.
Use our hotlines to call your Senators and your Members of Congress and demand they support Medicare expansion and improvement, including negotiations for prescription drugs, lowering the age to 60, dental, hearing and vision benefits and capping out of pocket costs.
We know that Big Pharma, the health insurance industry and other corporate forces use campaign contributions to prevent progress on health care reform. Yesterday’s vote is exactly what happens when elected officials accept campaign donations from corporations and special interests.
That’s why our movement has been organizing in districts to get members of Congress (including Reps. Peters and Schrader) to sign the Patients Over Profits pledge to reject donations from Big Bharma.
We can still win Medicare drug negotiation, but the corporate influence on our elected officials is clear. We have to hold them accountable.
Together, we will continue fighting to make sure that our major demands – lowering Medicare eligibility to 60, expanding care to include dental, vision, and hearing, instituting an out-of-pocket cap, and negotiating drug prices are all included in the full reconciliation package.
Thank you for speaking out today.
Jasmine Ruddy
Organizer
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All
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