[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 198 (Wednesday, December 11, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H10023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          WE HEAR AMERICANS REGARDING SKYROCKETING DRUG COSTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Trone) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TRONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3, the Elijah 
Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. This bill fulfills a promise that we 
made to the American people.
  We heard America when you told us drug costs were so high you 
sometimes had to choose between buying your medicine and paying your 
heating bill.
  We heard America when you spoke to us about skyrocketing drug costs 
compromising your quality of life.
  We heard America when you said you had to ration drugs because you 
couldn't afford your next prescription.
  No one should have to make those tradeoffs for themselves or their 
children.
  In the United States, we pay more for drugs than any other country. 
For insulin alone, Americans pay four times the average of other 
countries. In my district in Maryland, people with Medicare are paying 
4.9 times what they would pay in Australia; 3.5 times what they would 
pay in the United Kingdom; and 2.6 times what they would pay in Canada 
for prescription drugs.

  Marylanders and Americans have been getting a bad deal, and it is 
time to change that. I come from the business world and in business you 
are successful when you negotiate a better price. Government should be 
able to do the same thing with pharmaceutical companies.
  H.R. 3 will allow us to do this. It will allow the U.S. Government to 
negotiate lower prices for Medicare and private insurance and put a 
$2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drugs. It will also expand 
Medicare benefits to add coverage for dental, vision, and hearing for 
the first time ever.
  In total, this bill will save the Federal Government over $500 
billion over the next 10 years. Not only will this save money in the 
pockets of the average American, but it will reinvest that money to 
help our children and our children's children.
  It will do this by investing $10 billion for biomedical research at 
NIH. NIH is the best investment in our future that we could ever make. 
Every dollar spurs $8 in return. Investing money in NIH just makes 
sense.
  It will also do this by investing $10 billion to fight our Nation's 
biggest problem: the opioid epidemic. Unscrupulous pharma companies 
fueled this opioid epidemic with irresponsible and illegal schemes to 
flood the market with prescription pain pills. We have paid dearly for 
those pills in lives lost.
  It is only right that the savings we create through lowering drug 
prices for Americans should go to fighting this epidemic.
  I am proud that the bipartisan bill I introduced with the Freshmen 
Working Group on Addiction, the State Opioid Response Grant 
Authorization Act, is included in H.R. 3 and will provide $7.5 billion 
over the next 5 years for consistent and predictable funding for the 
communities that are fighting the opioid epidemic on the front lines. 
Opioids have killed more than 400,000 Americans. It is time to act.
  Last month, I held a roundtable in Gaithersburg, Maryland, about the 
high cost of prescription drugs. At the roundtable, we had medical 
professionals and regular folks who wrote into my office about the 
incredibly high cost of prescription drugs.
  One of those people was Suzette Cumberland. Suzette has Type 1 
diabetes, and over the summer the price for her medication shot up 300 
percent without warning or explanation. This is not fair, and it is not 
right.
  I am standing on the floor of the House of Representatives today and 
say to Suzette: We all hear you. I hear you and the millions of people 
across the country who have to make decisions about whether to pay for 
food or the medication they need to survive.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs 
Now Act. It is time to stand up to the pharmaceutical companies and 
fight for those without a PAC or a lobbyist to represent them--the 
American people.
  Let's fight for them.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair.

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