Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) on Friday led a letter urging President Biden to include significant prescription drug price reforms in his forthcoming American Families Plan. Concerned by news reports indicating that the Biden plan will not include prescription drug price reforms, Welch led 20 of his colleagues to urge the administration to reconsider. In particular, the Members ask that the American Families Plan include critical reforms like those in H.R. 3, which was re-introduced yesterday.
“The prescription drug market has been manipulated and exploited by pharmaceutical companies to boost their profits at the expense of consumers because the federal government has allowed them to,” wrote the Members. “The opportunity we have now is to take meaningful action to lower drug prices for the American people… We support the inclusion of prescription drug reform measures in the American Families Plan proposal, specifically Medicare prescription drug negotiation, as well as the other effective and comprehensive reforms, including but not limited to those in H.R. 3.”
The members specifically ask that Medicare prescription drug negotiation be included in the American Families Plan, an initiative that Rep. Welch has championed for over a decade, which is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to save the federal government $456 billion over 10 years. These savings could be used to pay for other critical aspects of the American Families Plan to make healthcare more affordable.
A PDF of the letter is here. Joining Welch on the letter were Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.-05) Nikema Williams (D-Ga.-05), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.-07), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine-01), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.-02), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.-01), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.-13), Angie Craig (D-Minn.-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton(D-D.C), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif-11), John Sarbanes (D-Md.-03), Mark Pocan (D-Wisc-02), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash-07), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-27), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.-17), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn-09), Colin Allred (D-Texas-32), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.-12), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.-4), Katie Porter (D-Calif-45). President Biden is expected to unveil his American Families Plan early next week.
Source: WASHINGTON – Representative Peter Welch 4.23.2021