No Matter How It’s Gussied Up, a Drug Price Control Pig Is Still a Price Control Pig

Over the years, socialist drug price control proposals have appeared under a variety of names, with the purported aim of lowering prescription drug prices and improving Medicare.

Most recently, and similarly to HR 3, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others are again attempting to disguise prescription drug price controls in the Build Back Better package to allow government the power to determine the price for lifesaving medicines.

Misleadingly called a “negotiation,” the government would determine the price of drugs based on a similar price control system currently used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system and other federal government purchasers, and companies must accept this price or be subject to a new excise tax of up to 95% of the total sales of the medicine. 

Furthermore, the VA system not only employs the QALY assessments but also applies a one-size-fits-all method that restricts access to medicines to such a degree that most VA beneficiaries rely on other sources, including Medicare Part D, to supplement their drug coverage.

Build Back Better would embolden government price setting for medicines years after approval and well before the exclusivities expire. The bill disregards that post approval research, including costly and resource intensive clinical trials, are the gateway to treatments for rare disease, Cancer cures, and pediatric care.

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

Regardless of what they are named, prescription drug price control proposals are shortsighted and ultimately would lead to lower quality, fewer options, and diminished health outcomes.

Pelosi and others can try to put lipstick on their price control pig, but it’s still just a price control!

At TAPP, we will continue to call on Congress to reject social drug price control proposals no matter how they are gussied up or named.