ICYMI: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU TO PAY MORE FOR MEDICINE--AGAIN

Op-Ed

One year ago this week, I joined President Joe Biden as he signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This transformational law finally reversed longstanding legal restrictions put in place by a Republican Congress 20 years ago that explicitly prevented Medicare from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies on the prices seniors pay for prescription drugs.

Other nations negotiate lower prices for their citizens and so it's only fair that the United States should be able to do the same. Negotiating drug prices is not only good for seniors' wallets, making the lifesaving drugs they need more affordable, but also for taxpayers and national spending. The drug pricing reforms included in the Inflation Reduction Act are expected to cut the federal deficit by $237 billion over 10 years, saving taxpayers billions of dollars and extending Medicare's solvency for years to come.

However, this progress is now in legal jeopardy. Pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson, launched a series of lawsuits this summer in an attempt to prevent Medicare price negotiation from going into effect.

To be clear, the drug industry's legal arguments in these cases rely on dubious claims that stretch the legal imagination. However, it would be a mistake to underestimate the threat they pose after former President Donald Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spent years confirming right-wing judges who often put politics over the law. These judges have already struck down reproductive rights, LGBTQ protections, and other civil rights.

American pharmaceutical giants are some of the most innovative and successful companies in the world. But they often downplay the fact that much of their success is owed to American taxpayers who fund billions of dollars in biomedical research every year through the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority. Look no further than the COVID-19 vaccines or the transformational HIV/AIDS medications that have saved untold numbers of lives and you'll see the fingerprints of American taxpayers on the patents.

These pharmaceutical companies conveniently forget who funds much of the initial research that paves the way to their blockbuster drugs. In fact, pharmaceutical companies regularly show their appreciation to taxpayers by charging Americans three, five, and sometimes even 10 times more than they are charging in other countries around the world for the exact same drugs.

This simply is not fair and it's time to stand up and say enough is enough. Withstanding Big Pharma's attacks will require a robust legal defense by the Biden administration, but I strongly believe that the Department of Justice will prevail against these lawsuits.

Meanwhile, as the Biden administration is forced to fight these frivolous lawsuits, Democrats in Congress are looking to continue to build on the law's successes.

Last month, we introduced the Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act that, if passed, will mean lower prices on more drugs sooner by expanding the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate each year from 20 to 50. And it would make those lower prescription drug prices available to Americans who get their health insurance coverage through their work or the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The days of Big Pharma taking advantage of Americans are over. The Biden administration and congressional Democrats already took on the pharmaceutical industry and won in order to make prescription drugs more affordable for the American people, and we will do it again.

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