[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 164 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H4879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ALLOW MEDICARE TO NEGOTIATE DRUG PRICES

  (Ms. WILD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. WILD. Mr. Speaker, for far too long, the pharmaceutical industry 
has dictated who in America has access to the medicines they need for 
their health and well-being and who doesn't, leaving millions of 
Americans in districts like mine to make impossible choices about their 
healthcare.
  Already this year, drug companies have hiked the prices of 1,100 
prescription drugs, more than 90 percent of which were above the rate 
of inflation. The largest single price hike for a prescription drug 
this month was nearly 16 percent, while inflation has risen slightly 
more than 2 percent.
  Big Pharma's bottom line should never be more important than the 
health of my constituents in the Seventh District of Pennsylvania or 
the American people at large.
  That is why I recently organized a letter signed by 14 of my 
colleagues, asking our leaders to allow Medicare to negotiate lower 
drug prices and include that language in the budget reconciliation bill 
currently being negotiated.
  Here is the truth: Giving Medicare the power to negotiate would lower 
the cost of prescription drugs for hardworking families so that 
everyone has access to the medicines they need. It would also result in 
nearly half a trillion dollars in savings for taxpayers, money that we 
can invest in making healthcare more affordable for even more people.

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