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Dear John,
Strong prescription drug pricing reforms now hang in the balance in Washington.
Thanks to your support, we’re pushing back on Big Pharma and their expensive lobbying and ad campaign to kill a proposal that would allow Medicare to negotiate directly with huge drug companies for lower drug prices. But Big Pharma’s tentacles reach far into Congress and so the fate of this critical measure remains uncertain.
On this issue, the public has made its preferences crystal clear. Polls indicate that a majority of voters across party lines support Medicare drug price negotiations. The Veterans Administration (VA) has been negotiating prices with drugmakers for years — and receive significant savings in the process. Why shouldn’t Medicare, with the powerful backing of millions of older Americans like you, have the same power?
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, people on Medicare, as well as those who have private insurance, could see savings of as much as 55% for some medicines if Medicare were allowed to negotiate as the VA does. And the Medicare program would see a whopping $456 billion savings over ten years!
According to the National Committee’s Director of Government Relations & Policy Dan Adcock, if these provisions are less robust than we would like that may limit the scope of dental, hearing and vision coverage that can be added to Medicare. In fact, one or more of those coverages may not make it into the final legislation if there aren’t sufficient Medicare savings to pay for them.
We hope that Congress will keep slogging until older Americans receive some sorely-needed relief from soaring drug prices. Please stay tuned on how you can help us keep the pressure on your lawmakers to do the right thing when it comes to reining in the power of Big Pharma!
Sincerely,
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