Drug Pricing

Is Congressman Wittman a leader in protecting us from increases in drug prices? As our Congressman, what has he done to help us?

In March, 2018 a congressional report called "Manufactured Crisis: How devastating drug price increases are harming America's seniors," indicates the prices of the 20 most commonly prescribed brand-name drugs for seniors have risen nearly 10 times more than the annual rate of inflation over the past five years. The report concluded that, "Over the last decade, these significant price increases have emerged as a dominant driver of U.S. health care costs -- a trend experts anticipate will continue at a rapid pace."

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welve of the 20 drugs saw their prices increase by more than 50% over the five-year period and six had price increases of over 100%. The drug Nitrostat, used to relieve chest pain, had increased the most: a percentage change of 477%.

In December 2015 CBS cited these reasons for high prices.

“Lack of bargaining. Other governments bargain on behalf of their citizens, which helps to keep costs down…Medicare is barred by law from negotiating pricing.”

“High marketing costs. The U.S. allows drug companies to market directly to consumers, which isn't legal in Europe. That means pharmaceutical firms in America typically spend much more on advertising and marketing…with those costs ultimately getting passed on to consumers…”

“Opaque pricing. Americans can easily check out how much it costs to buy, say, a gallon of milk or loaf of bread, but figuring out how much a prescription medication costs can be difficult.”

A July 14, 2017 NYT article states, “Under fire for skyrocketing drug prices, pharmaceutical companies often offer this response: The high costs of their products are justified because the proceeds generate money for crucial research on new cures and treatments…” But the data shows in the last 10 years more funds have been used to buy back shares than on research. “As a revealing new academic study shows…The key cause of high drug prices, restricted access to medicines and stifled innovation…is a social disease called ‘maximizing shareholder value…”

Has Congressman Wittman proposed a remedy for this problem plaguing his constituents? Has he taken action to protect us from rampant drug price increases? Is he representing our interests?