The American Rescue Plan will expand access to Medicaid and make healthcare affordable for millions of people across the country, while simultaneously beginning to rein in Big Pharma’s price gouging. We will be watching to make sure that the Medicaid Rebate Cap provision will ultimately be implemented in 2024 rather than falling prey to Big Pharma lobbyists. Democrats have committed to put people before Big Pharma profits, and we’ll hold them to that.
We all share President Biden’s goal to ensure that every person has access to a COVID vaccine, no matter where they live, what they look like, or how much money they have. To truly accomplish this, when the President meets with executives from Johnson & Johnson and Merck at the White House, he must discuss the industry’s active role in controlling access to the prescription drug through exclusive patents that guarantee the corporations big profits on all kinds of medicines–including ones funded by taxpayer dollars like COVID vaccines.
The Senate’s decision to delay the lifting of the Medicaid rebate cap shows just how much influence Big Pharma continues to have over lawmakers in Congress. Delaying the implementation of this provision until the next presidential election year almost guarantees that it won’t ever go into effect, denying health coverage to millions who need it most in order to keep boosting industry profits.
In response to the Biden administration’s brokering of a deal wherein pharmaceutical giant Merck will utilize excess manufacturing capacity to produce the coronavirus vaccine of its longtime competitor, Johnson & Johnson, public health advocates said Tuesday that the partnership—though welcome—reveals how global vaccine supplies could be significantly increased if patent monopolies were dissolved and the technology controlled by Big Pharma shared worldwide. …
Here is the plain truth: one of the greatest problems facing the vaccine rollout is one policymakers rarely talk about — monopoly patents. Addressing the patent issue will help get more vaccines into more arms quicker. And it is time Washington addresses it.
This legislation passed by the House will have a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of Americans struggling from the COVID pandemic. In particular, it’s a significant step toward holding Big Pharma accountable for pharmaceutical drug price gouging. Action by Congress to rein in Big Pharma is popular, long-overdue and urgently needed. Already this year, drug companies have increased the price of common medicines by 5% — over twice the rate of inflation — even as our nation’s health programs and systems strain from the burdens of COVID.
Xavier Becerra brings the right skills and experience to the Biden-Harris Administration as it aims to tackle some of the biggest problems facing our nation: a raging pandemic, inaccessible healthcare, and sky-high prescription drug prices. Becerra has a track record of putting the interests of ordinary Americans first — unlike his predecessor Alex Azar — and the Senate must confirm him to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services.
