    
March 26, 2019
Dear Friend,
I attended the House Committee on Oversight's first hearing of the 116th Congress on examining the actions of drug companies in raising prescription drug prices, as well as the effects of these actions on the federal and state budgets and on American families.
According to an analysis by the AARP, approximately 94 percent of widely-used brand-name drugs on the market between 2005 and 2017 more than doubled in price during that time. One of the witnesses who testified before the committee, Ms. Antroinette Worsham, is a mother of two Type I Diabetics. She shared with the committee her heart wrenching story of losing one of her diabetic daughters after she was forced to ration insulin. You can read her full testimony and that of the other witnesses here.
The sky-high cost of prescription drugs is a life and death issue for millions of Americans -- I continue to find this staggeringly alarming. I recently cosponsored several pieces of legislation to address skyrocketing prescription drug pricing:
- Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which would peg the price of prescription drugs in the United States to the median price in five major countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. You can read more about H.R. 465 here.
- Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, which would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D. You can read more about H.R. 448 here.
- Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, which would allow patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to import safe, affordable medicine from Canada and other major countries. You can read more about H.R. 447 here.
- Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2019, which would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers for lower prices. If the negotiation for any given drug fails, HHS would be authorized to issue a competitive license to allow generic competition to help drive down prices. You can read more about H.R. 1046 here.
- Medicare for All Act of 2019,which would authorize Medicare to negotiate drug prices and includes other provisions aimed at reducing prescription drug costs. You can read more about H.R. 1384 here.
I have found there is strong, bipartisan consensus among my colleagues that drug companies are increasing prices at unsustainable rates. It is my sincere and pressing hope that we all come together urgently to pass commonsense legislation to lower prescription drug prices for all Americans.
All Best,
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