Dear Ms. Alexander,
Thank you for
contacting me regarding prescription drug prices. I am deeply concerned about
the continued increases to the costs of prescription drugs and believe
pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable for putting profits over
patients. It is unacceptable that too often patients are being forced to decide
whether to buy food, pay their rent or pay for medication. I believe allowing
Medicare to negotiate drug prices is an important step towards making
prescription drugs more affordable to all, especially older adults and people
with disabilities.
I have heard from
New Yorkers across the state regarding the challenges of high prescription drug
costs, and I am fighting in the Senate for policies to address them. I support
two bills that would reduce the cost of prescription drugs and make sure that
everyone can access the medications they need. The first is The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
Act, which would
allow the federal government to negotiate for lower prices for prescription drugs
under Medicare Part D, with no changes to patient protections. Right now
Medicare pays – on average – three times more than Medicaid for the same
top-selling brand name drugs, simply because they are currently prohibited from
negotiating. The other bill, the
Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, would help
level the market for Americans purchasing prescription drugs by allowing
patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to import those lower-cost drugs from
other countries. I will continue to work with my colleagues to address the
continued rise of prescription drug prices.
Thank you again for writing to express your concerns, and I hope that you keep in touch with my office in the future. For more information on this and other important issues, please visit my website at http://gillibrand.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator
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