Q53: Do you have a plan to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs?
Biden: Yes. I will stand up to the abuse of power by prescription drug companies, by repealing the outrageous exception allowing drug corporations to avoid negotiating with Medicare over drug prices and by limiting launch prices for drugs that face no competition and are being abusively priced by manufacturers. I will limit price increases for all brand, biotech, and abusively priced generic drugs to inflation and allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from other countries as long as the Department of Health and Human Services has certified that those drugs are safe. Finally, I will terminate pharmaceutical corporations’ tax break for advertisement spending and improve the supply of quality generics.
View details of my plan to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs HERE.
Bloomberg: Yes. Mike would work with Congress to authorize the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The government would cap drug prices at 120% of the average in other advanced nations — and this cap would apply to consumers with public or private insurance. Mike would ban drug company payments to the people who make decisions at pharmacies so that drug makers compete on the cost and value of their products — not on the amount of money they pay to get preferential treatment. Mike would also reform the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit to encourage greater competition, and cap beneficiaries’ annual out-of-pocket costs at $2,000.
Buttigeig: Yes. My Affordable Medicines for All plan (https://peteforamerica.com/policies/affordable-medicine/) dramatically reduces prescription drug costs, forces pharmaceutical companies to price responsibly and pay their fair share, and encourages innovation in new medicine manufacturing, financing, and delivery.
De La Fuente: Yes. Expand and modify the Affordable Care Act.
Klobuchar: Yes. Senator Klobuchar believes that when people are sick, their focus should be on getting better, rather than on how they can afford their prescriptions. That’s why Senator Klobuchar has been a champion when it comes to tackling the high costs of prescription drugs. She leads several proposals in the Senate to lift the ban on Medicare negotiations for prescription drugs, allow personal importation of safe drugs from countries like Canada, and stop pharmaceutical companies from blocking less-expensive generics, and as President she will get them done.
Sanders: Yes. In the United States, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. This year alone the price of major prescription drugs have increased more than five times the rate of inflation with price hikes as high as 875 percent. While about one out of five Americans cannot afford to pay for the medicine prescribed by their doctors, 10 big drug companies made $69 billion in profits last year and the top 25 CEOs in the pharmaceutical industry received $440 million in compensation in 2017.
Under Medicare for All, we will stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off seniors by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs. This is exactly what exists in countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and New Zealand. Under this plan, seniors will never experience another donut hole where they are forced to pay thousands of dollars for the life-saving medicine they need.
We will also take bold action to take on the pharmaceutical industry by:
- Requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices while maintaining access to all FDA-approved medications.
- Cutting drug prices by 50% by making sure the U.S. pays no more for prescription drugs than other major countries.
- Allowing patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to purchase lower-cost drugs from Canada and other countries.
- Exercising federal march-in rights to manufacture drugs produced at taxpayer expense.
- Requiring companies to disclose the costs of clinical drug trials.
Steyer: Yes. I have proposed providing a public option that uses the negotiating power of the government to dramatically lower costs, including for prescription drugs and premiums. With this option, we can provide quality medical care to millions more families and individuals while allowing Americans to keep their employer-based health care if they want to do so. A public option will expand coverage while making healthcare much more affordable and improving system quality, deliverability and accountability. In addition, I support the federal government negotiating directly with the pharmaceutical industry to reduce costs for American healthcare consumers. The VA already does this and our veterans realize significant savings on their medications.
Warren: Yes. Right now, drug companies benefit from taxpayer-funded R&D and rake in billions of dollars in profits while Americans foot the bill. The average American spends roughly $1,220 per year on pharmaceuticals—more than any comparable country. As president, I will act immediately to lower the cost of prescription drugs, using every available tool to bring pressure on the big drug companies. I’ll start by taking immediate advantage of existing legal authorities to lower the cost of several specific drugs that tens of millions of Americans rely on. On the first day of my presidency, I will use these tools to drastically lower drug costs for essential medications—drugs with high costs or limited supply that address critical public health needs. We’ll start with Insulin, EpiPens, Naloxone, Humira, Hepatitis C drugs like Harvoni, Truvada, and antibiotics. I will also direct the government to study whether other essential medicines, including breakthrough drugs for cancer or high-cost drugs for rare diseases, might also be subject to these interventions because they are being sold at prices that inappropriately limit patient access. And by enacting my Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act, the government can manufacture generic drugs that are not available due to cost or shortage. In addition, I will invest $100 billion over ten years in biomedical research at NIH, creating a National Institute for Drug Development that will help bring that research to patients as cures. We will prioritize treatments that are uninteresting to big pharmaceutical companies but could save millions of American dollars and lives. Any drugs that come out of this research and to American consumers can be sold abroad, with the proceeds reinvested to fund future breakthrough drug development. And finally, as a single payer, Medicare for All will have the ability to incentivize the development of better drugs that help more people by private companies—including early stage cancer cures. Using every tool in the toolkit, we will work to bring prices down for patients to help them get the treatments they need while promoting future innovation to develop new cures. And if all these policies don’t keep health care spending growth on pace with GDP growth, I will use available policy tools, which include global budgets, population-based budgets, and automatic rate reductions, to bring it back into line.
Q54: Do you support legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and to stop drug companies from protecting their monopolies by
keeping their competitors from bringing lower priced drugs to market?
Biden: Yes. Because Medicare covers so many Americans, it has significant leverage to negotiate lower prices for its beneficiaries. And it does so for hospitals and other providers participating in the program, but not drug manufacturers. Drug manufacturers not facing any competition, therefore, can charge whatever price they choose to set. There’s no justification for this except the power of prescription drug lobbying. My plan will repeal the existing law explicitly barring Medicare from negotiating lower prices with drug corporations.
Bloomberg: Yes. Mike supports HR 3 which would allow the government to negotiate drug prices with drug makers. In this process, there would be an upper limit for the negotiated price at 120% of the average price among other advanced countries. Private insurance companies could then use the negotiated price. The federal government could save $456 billion on Medicare over ten years if this bill was passed into law.
Buttigeig: Yes. At the same time that millions of Americans struggle to pay for drugs, pharmaceutical companies are enjoying record profits and remain the most profitable companies in the entire health industry. I will empower the federal government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare and my public plan. To ensure that Americans benefit from the cost savings from more affordable prices, the negotiated rates will be available to other public and private insurance programs to voluntarily adopt.
De La Fuente: Yes. One hundred percent agree. We must break up the stranglehold drugmakers have on Americans and offer the public competitive prices.
Klobuchar: Yes. As President, Senator Klobuchar will protect and strengthen Medicare beginning by ending the ban on Medicare negotiating drug prices on behalf of 43 million seniors in Medicare Part D, a bill she leads in the Senate. Senator Klobuchar will also take aggressive action in her first 100 days to crack down on drug companies that are — in effect — paying the makers of generic drugs to delay cheaper versions of drugs from getting into the market.
Sanders: Yes. In the United States, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. This year alone the price of major prescription drugs have increased more than five times the rate of inflation with price hikes as high as 875 percent. While about one out of five Americans cannot afford to pay for the medicine prescribed by their doctors,10 big drug companies made $69 billion in profits last year and the top 25 CEOs in the pharmaceutical industry received $440 million in compensation in 2017.
Under Medicare for All, we will stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off seniors by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs. This is exactly what exists in countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and New Zealand. Under this plan, seniors will never experience another donut hole where they are forced to pay thousands of dollars for the life-saving medicine they need.
We will also take bold action to take on the pharmaceutical industry by:
- Requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices while maintaining access to all
FDA-approved medications. - Cutting drug prices by 50% by making sure the U.S. pays no more for
prescription drugs than other major countries. - Allowing patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to purchase lower-cost drugs
from Canada and other countries. - Exercising federal march-in rights to manufacture drugs produced at taxpayer
expense. - Requiring companies to disclose the costs of clinical drug trials.
Steyer: Yes. I have proposed providing a public option that uses the negotiating power of the government to dramatically lower costs, including for prescription drugs and premiums. With this option, we can provide quality medical care to millions more families and individuals while allowing Americans to keep their employer-based health care if they want to do so. A public option will expand coverage while making healthcare much more affordable and improving system quality, deliverability and accountability. In addition, I support the federal government negotiating directly with the pharmaceutical industry to reduce costs for American healthcare consumers. The VA already does this and our veterans realize significant savings on their medications.
Warren : Yes. Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anyone in the world – $333 billion in 2017 alone. Reining in prescription drug costs should be a top priority for any president – and there’s no better way to do it than through Medicare for All. My administration will use a suite of aggressive policy tools to set a net savings target that will bring down Medicare prices for brand name prescription drugs by 70% and prices for generics by 30%, with an initial focus on more expensive drugs. Under Medicare for All, the federal government would have real bargaining power to negotiate lower prices for patients. I will adopt an altered version of the mechanism outlined in the Lower Prescription Drug Costs Now Act which leverages excise taxes to bring manufacturers to the table to negotiate prices for both branded and generic drugs, with no drug exceeding 110% of the average international market price, but removes the limit of the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate for and eliminates the “target price” so Medicare could potentially negotiate prices lower than other countries. If negotiations fail, I will use two tools – compulsory licensing and public manufacturing – to allow my administration to ensure patient access to medicines by either overriding the patent, as modeled in the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act, or by providing public funds to support manufacturing of these drugs, as modeled in my Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act. Medicare for All will also incentivize pharmaceutical companies to develop the drugs we need – like antibiotics, cancer cures, and vaccines. And it’s not just about driving down drug prices. Making sure patients get important drug therapies up front that keep them healthy and cost a fraction compared to more severe treatment down the line can save money overall. Insurers, who may only cover individuals for a few years of their lives, see those investments in long-term health as a cost they’ll never recoup – so they have a financial incentive to deny patients these treatments. But Medicare for All covers each patient for their entire lifespan. There’s no perverse incentive to deny the prescriptions they need today because the long-term benefits to their health won’t benefit their current private insurance company.
Black Women's Roundtable 2020 Election Voter Guide 