Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague on the Senate floor to talk about an extremely important topic--that is, lowering the cost of prescription drugs in this country. Just a few weeks ago, on June 20, West Virginia celebrated our 156th birthday. There is plenty to celebrate about West Virginia, from its breathtaking beauty and wonderful families to our kind and hospitable West Virginia spirit.

Unfortunately, West Virginia has its challenges, too, including health challenges. We have some of the highest rates in the Nation for heart disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and arthritis. While there are many nonpharmaceutical steps people are taking to prevent and control diseases, for many, their prescription medicine is the difference between wellness and illness or even between life and death.

That is why it is so important that West Virginians are able to secure their medications and that we as a Congress make sure they are not paying too much for those medications. Of all the issues that my constituents come to me with--whether it is a phone call, a letter, or casually running into them at the grocery store--this is the issue I hear most about because it is something that affects so many West Virginians' way of life, and it is something that affects them every day. If it doesn't affect them, it affects somebody in their family.

The same can be said for Americans across this country, and that is why it has become one of our Nation's top priorities, one that is shared by Republicans and Democrats and one that is a significant bipartisan focus of this administration and this Congress. It is a far- reaching problem with many different factors contributing to it, and that is why we have to address it on many different fronts.

The chairman of the HELP Committee is here today. He has worked through his committee diligently, and I applaud him for his efforts and look forward to joining him on the floor in support of those efforts.

As we all know, the path a medication takes from the manufacturer to the patient is very complex, with many factors impacting the price a consumer pays. While making changes to this pathway is very important, my constituents really don't care about the pathway. They are more concerned with the total on their bill that their pharmacist is ringing up. That is why I have focused a lot of my personal efforts on the important role that our pharmacists play in lowering drug costs.

In many small towns and rural communities--which is my entire State-- pharmacists are the healthcare providers people go to quite regularly, and they are often some of the most trusted, friendly, and welcoming. It is essential that patients, especially seniors, are able to access the local pharmacy.

West Virginians and Americans across the country should be able to trust that their pharmacist is not being restricted about telling them how to get the best prescription drug prices. They need to know they aren't facing higher cost sharing for drugs and being accelerated into the coverage gap or the doughnut hole phase of Medicare Part D due to an overly complicated system of fees and price concessions that nobody really understands--certainly not at the pharmacist's desk.

In order to ensure that seniors have access to a pharmacy of their choice, Senator Brown and I introduced the Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act last Congress. We will be reintroducing this bill, which requires that community pharmacists in medically underserved areas be allowed to participate in the Medicare Part D preferred pharmacy networks.

Why is this important? If a local pharmacy is not included in a preferred network, a senior must either switch to a preferred network pharmacy, which could be a lot farther away or less convenient, or pay higher copayments and coinsurance to access their local pharmacy. In some cities and towns, you can find a pharmacy on nearly every corner. In rural areas, that is just not the case, and accessing a preferred pharmacy could require significant time and difficult travel.

Additionally, many seniors rely on their local pharmacies not only to access prescription drugs but also to receive those needed services like preventive screenings and medication therapy management.

As important as access to a local pharmacy is, it is also essential that patients can trust their pharmacists to let them know which payment method provides the most savings when purchasing their prescription drugs.

I was proud to join Senator Collins last year as a cosponsor of the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act. This commonsense bill, which the President signed into law in October, bans the use of the pharmacy gag clause. It was hard to believe this still existed. These clauses were put into place by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, and they prevented our pharmacists from proactively telling consumers that their prescriptions could cost less--less--if they paid out of pocket rather than relying on their insurance plan.

I am also currently working with Senators Tester, Cassidy, and Brown on legislation that would help improve transparency and accuracy in Medicare Part D drug spending. Our bill would reform the application process of pharmacy price concessions, also known as direct and indirect remuneration, or DIR fees, in the Medicare Part D Program. It sounds complicated, but it is driving up the cost of our pharmaceuticals.

This will ensure that our seniors are not facing higher cost sharing for their drugs or, again, being accelerated into the coverage gap. It will also help ensure that local pharmacies are able to stay open. This is critical. We have to keep our local pharmacies open for a vast majority of rural America and have them continue to stay open and continue to serve Medicare beneficiaries and other communities that rely on them. It would provide needed financial certainty for these pharmacies, which are often small businesses.

My colleagues and I hope to see this legislation included in the soon-to-be-released Senate finance package. These are just a few examples of how we are working to lower prescription drug costs.

I have been listening to my colleagues and have heard a lot of other ideas. They are small but much needed steps that can be, and already are, making a real difference in our constituents' lives, but our work is far from over. We have to continue looking at both commonsense and complex solutions to the problem. This is a complex problem. While as a Congress and a country we may not agree on the best way to do that, we do all agree that it is a problem that needs to be solved.

I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Alexander and Senator Lankford, who are on the floor here today, and my other colleagues and the administration to find that pathway forward to lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

I yield back.

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