The Selfishness of H.R. 3 Is Astounding

The Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) is a dangerous piece of congressional legislation for lowering prescription drug prices and improving Medicare for seniors and families across the country.

H.R. 3 would cap prescription drug prices at no more than 120% of the prices paid in six foreign nations. The governments in those nations set artificially low reimbursements for medicines—in other words, they employ a heavy-handed, socialist system of drug pricing. The theory is that, by importing foreign price controls, Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers could save hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decade.

The problem is, if the bill were to pass, it would have a chilling effect on the pharmaceutical industry where we would certainly see a drastic reduction in investment in biomedical research and development. It’s just commonsense to understand that if the government dictates prices, then drug innovators will have less money coming in, and research and development would have to be scaled back in order to keep basic drug production operations afloat.

According to data highlighted by the California Life Sciences Association, by incorporating foreign price controls into the Medicare Part D program alone, H.R. 3 would cause a 58% reduction in pharmaceutical industry revenue, “significantly reducing the investment capital available for partnerships and licensing agreements with emerging companies, and therefore lead to an 88% reduction in new medicines developed by small U.S. biotech companies.”

Thus, H.R. 3 would dramatically curtail the development of new therapies to treat some of the world’s most pressing health challenges: cancer, rare diseases, lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, and many others.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen firsthand the impressive ability of American scientists to engage in activities that produced vaccines at record speeds. H.R. 3 would create a huge barrier to innovation and would leave many patients high and dry and just waiting to die. H.R. 3 is downright un-American.

We need scientists to continue researching and developing breakthrough medicines. Sacrificing future innovation to achieve some short-term financial savings would ultimately hurt patients.

Indeed, the concept of “paying it forward” could hardly be more compelling than in the case of discovering life-saving therapies and treatments for our most pressing healthcare challenges. The selfishness implicit in H.R. 3—and in the importation of the socialist approach to healthcare in general—is astounding, especially as it would harm the most vulnerable among us.

That’s why the Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity strongly urges Congress to reject H.R. 3.