Ending pharmaceutical price gouging is important, given that 18 million Americans cannot afford to pay for the prescriptions their doctors give them.
But the President’s post is disingenuous. We are giving tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to pharmaceutical companies that then turn around and sell drugs to us at these exorbitant prices. The problem is not just that we need to bring the prices down through negotiation with drug companies; the Dole Bayh Act of 1980 already gave the govt “marching rights” to do that. The president should not be bragging about giving crumbs to the American people; he should be supporting Medicare For All, which he has said that he would not do.
First of all, the top five pharmaceutical companies had a combined profit of $80 billion last year alone, while Americans’ medical debt comes to $88 billion. One in four Americans live with medical debt. This post by the president is everything that is wrong with corporatism. It’s made to sound like they’re really sticking it to the pharmaceutical companies, when, in fact, nothing fundamentally changes. Some people will be less desperate, that is true. But the system itself does not become more just. Given how much American taxpayers already subsidize pharmaceutical companies, many of these drugs should be free.
Folks, right now, 25 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in America control 70% of the market. This lack of competition drives up prices – making it harder for hardworking American families to access the health care they need.
Today, my Administration is doing something about it. Let me explain:
Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are spent on research, discovery, and development of new prescription drugs. And while I firmly believe that the strength of a nation can be measured by the boldness of its science, the quality of its research, and the progress it helps bring forth, I also believe that the folks who paid for the research – you – ought to be able to access and afford the final product.
That's why my Administration is proposing that if a drug made using taxpayer funds is not reasonably available to Americans, the government reserves the right to "march in" and license that drug to another manufacturer who could sell it for less.
This is an important step toward ending Big Pharma price gouging.
It's good for competition.
It's good for our economy.
And it's good for the millions of Americans who can't afford their medications – who know all too well that fine line between dignity and dependence that the price of a prescription drug can draw.
Dec 8, 2023 · 11:08 AM UTC
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