Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts and Real-Time Beneficiary Drug Cost Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SLOTKIN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Schakowsky and Congresswoman Spanberger.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of my bill, the Real- Time Benefits Act, which has been incorporated into the bill before us today.

The bill started with a very simple request from seniors in my district. People want to know how much a prescription will cost before they pick it up at the drugstore, and they deserve to know that it is the best possible price that they can get.

This bill does that very thing. It provides Medicare patients with the information they need about the cost of the prescription and whether there are generic alternatives, as well as the best pharmacy for the best deal before they even leave the doctor's office.

Right now, here is how the system works. A patient goes to the doctor, gets a prescription, and walks out. Then they take it to a local pharmacy, fill it, and pick it up. It is right then, at the counter, in front of everyone else, that they actually find out the price of their bill.

There is no advanced warning, no comparison shopping, no offer of generics, and no way of knowing if a different pharmacy could have it cheaper. By the time you get to the pharmacy, they have you over a barrel. This bipartisan bill would fix that.

Here is how it works. Insurers would be required to provide information to a common system, a real-time benefits tool, which doctors would access through their electronic prescribing program. Doctors and patients could then sit together to receive real-time updates, right in the doctor's office, on the price of the drug based on the patient's insurance plan, as well as the price of any other cheaper drugs available.

This real-time benefits tools will also list the price differences at each pharmacy--Rite Aid versus CVS--to allow physicians to make sure that the patients are getting the lowest possible prices.

This not only lowers out-of-pocket costs for seniors, but it increases much-needed price transparency into our system.

Imagine if, every time you went to the doctor, both you and your physician could see the differences in the prices of drugs. This is the kind of all-American competition we need when it comes to our prescription drugs.

To be clear, the cost of prescription drugs is the number one issue I get asked about in my district. People come up to me in the grocery store. They grab my arm. They ask me why their medication has increased by 200 percent in cost in the past 5 years.

Connie, a constituent of mine in Brighton, spends $10,000 a year on Humira for her Crohn's disease, even though she is on Medicare.

Joanna, who lives in my hometown of Holly, Michigan, was hospitalized for several days due to complications because she could not afford her inhaler. Her complex health needs require a number of medicines, so she literally rations her medicines in order to keep them manageable, and she still spends hundreds of dollars each month.

This is wrong, and our constituents, regardless of party, are asking us to do something about it.

Democrats and Republicans have both said the right things about the cost of prescription drugs. They have talked the talk. They now must walk the walk.

I am incredibly proud to have brought forth this bipartisan legislation tonight. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' to promote transparency and competition.

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