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

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 2115, the Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts Act.

First, I thank my colleagues Congressman Arrington and Congressman Boyle for their partnership on this bipartisan legislation. I thank Congresswoman Slotkin for her cooperation and commitment to our efforts. And I thank Congresswoman Schakowsky for her work here today.

Madam Speaker, if we are going to make substantial long-term progress on the issue of prescription drugs, we can't be afraid to work in a bipartisan manner, and I thank my colleagues for joining me in this fight.

I also thank Chairman Pallone and Chairman Neal for their dedicated work on tackling prescription drug costs and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means for voting to advance our bill and making this floor vote possible.

This bipartisan bill would help address the number one concern facing central Virginia's working families, chronically ill, and seniors--the rising cost of healthcare.

In every community in the Seventh District of Virginia, from Chesterfield to Culpeper, the extremely personal effects of rising prescription drug costs are on full display. Whether at a coffee shop, town hall, or street fair, I always hear yet another heartbreaking story from a mother, a father, a grandparent, or a young adult struggling to afford their prescription drugs. People genuinely feel helpless, and it is due to no fault of their own.

In many cases, steep costs have forced them to make nearly impossible decisions. A costly, lifesaving medication could mean buying fewer groceries for their family. It could mean reluctantly selling their home. It could mean saving less, or nothing at all, for their retirement or their kids' education. And even for those who are healthy, there is an overwhelming fear: What if I get sick, or what if a loved one gets sick, and we can't afford the medication?

Back in August, I held a roundtable with patients, pharmacists, and healthcare providers in Henrico County to discuss this community-wide issue. Together, we talked about the financial challenges caused by overpriced drugs, but we also discussed the issue of pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs.

To those in the healthcare industry, PBMs are known as the middlemen between drugmakers, health insurers, and pharmacies. But for many Americans, PBMs remain a mysterious player within the prescription drug marketplace.

Operating in the murky world of drug negotiation, there are few windows into the value of the rebates and discounts PBMs receive from drug companies. Effectively, they are a black box in the long supply chain from the pharmaceutical company to the patient.

During our roundtable in Henrico, one local pharmacist described how PBMs continue to enjoy record profits thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, while patients and pharmacists get stuck with unsustainable costs.

Right now, the three largest PBMs control three-quarters of the U.S. prescription drug market. There seems to be little transparency. And where there is zero transparency, there is rarely room for accountability or oversight.

If we don't cast sunlight into this black box, patients will continue to be left in the dark about the effect of PBMs on the prices of specific drugs. The Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts Act would be a step toward bringing greater transparency to this broken system.

The principle behind my bill is simple. Let's take the information already provided to the Federal Government and make it public.

PBMs are already required to declare rebate data, discounts, and generic dispensing rates to HHS, but under my bill, this information would be posted publicly for the general public to see.

Beyond the principle of my bill, the goal is even simpler: lowering drug costs for our neighbors.

By sharing this information online with American consumers and businesses, we would give seniors, families, and pharmacists a better sense of how PBMs could be influencing excessive prices. And we would start to address one of the root causes of our prescription drug affordability crisis.

In central Virginia and across the country, families should not be racked by a constant uneasiness about their financial well-being simply due to rising drug costs. They shouldn't be forced to accept silently the undisclosed results of PBM negotiations that could be bankrupting them.

We need to show the American people that we want to see progress on this vital economic issue and that we are hearing their stories, seeing the problems that exist, and actually moving to reform a prescription drug marketplace that too often seems to be working against the best interests of American patients.

Today, I call on my colleagues to pass the Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts Act because we are long overdue for meaningful actions that can turn the tide.

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