The Lower Drug Costs Now Act

FACTS:

• The list prices for more than 3,400 drugs increased more than 17% over last year's prices in the first 6 months of 2019.
• From 2011-2016, prescription drug spending in the United States grew by more than 2.5 times inflation.
• In Connecticut, the portion of insurance premiums attributable to prescription drug costs grew from 15% in 2010 to 23% in 2019.
• Prescription drug companies charge Americans prices that are three, four, or five times the cost of the identical product in other countries.

The Lower Drug Costs Act (H.R. 3) addresses these problems by:

• Directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to directly negotiate the price of up to 300 prescription drugs which cost the American people and Medicare the most money, and making that lower price available to all private insurance plans as well as Medicare.
• Charging drug manufacturers, a rebate if they increase the price of their drug faster than inflation.
• Creates a $2,000 out of pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries.
• Reinvests the savings in research at the National Institutes of Health and improving Medicare.

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