[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 188 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H5883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EMPOWER MEDICARE TO NEGOTIATE DRUG PRICES

  (Mr. AUCHINCLOSS asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Madam Speaker, I stand for patients and taxpayers in 
support of empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices and to pass on 
the savings to lower out-of-pocket costs. We must seize this once-in-a-
generation opportunity to make healthcare affordable and to promote the 
development of new cures.
  Some policymakers have argued that lowering costs and sustaining 
biomedical R&D are an either/or proposition, that Medicare negotiation 
for all drugs in parts B and D must necessarily degrade innovation. I 
disagree. Cracking down on exploitations of exclusivity with thoughtful 
policy could turbocharge new therapeutics and lower the price of old 
ones with the effect of lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients, 
promoting high-impact science, and saving the government money that 
Congress can use to expand health insurance for low-income Americans 
and senior citizens.
  That policy is within reach, and I strongly support meaningful 
Medicare negotiation in the Build Back Better agenda.

                          ____________________