Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of Ms. Scanlon, I have an amendment at the desk.

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer this amendment sponsored today by my friend and neighbor, Ms. Scanlon from Pennsylvania. This commonsense amendment has two parts.

First, it would require pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to pass discounts on drugs through to State Medicaid programs. PBMs are an important part of our drug pricing system, but Republicans and Democrats alike agree on the need for PBM reform. This provision is a feature of the Senate's bipartisan drug pricing bill.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Pennsylvania taxpayers paid $2.86 billion to PBMs for Medicaid enrollees in 2017. That is a 100 percent increase over 4 years. Under current law, PBMs can bill Medicaid one price for a drug, reimburse the pharmacy at a lower price, and profit, as a result, millions from the difference.

This amendment would stop that practice from Medicaid plans and simply require PBMs to pass along any discounts they get from pharmaceutical companies to the State's Medicaid program.

The amendment also requires pharmacies to participate in the CMS survey of acquisition costs for drugs so that States, consumers, and lawmakers alike all can have greater transparency into what these prescription drugs should cost.

Again, this is a feature of the Republican drug pricing proposals included in Mr. Walden's proposal, and it is all about increasing transparency into costs, especially PBM pricing.

Lastly, this amendment invests in NIH research for new cures and treatments, especially for high-need conditions.

I am a proud cosponsor of my friend Ms. Sherrill's Biomedical Innovation Expansion Act, which would invest $10 billion over 10 years in the NIH. As an engineer and former chemistry teacher, I know how important both basic and applied research is to advancing science and medicine. I am very pleased that this bill builds off Ms. Sherrill's legislation and establishes a pilot program at NIH that provides additional funding for clinical trials.

This stage of development is often costly and complicated, and this amendment would provide $900 million to this important program. With this investment, we are boosting support for an initiative that will assist the development of new cures and treatments.

Mr. Chairman, for our Medicaid beneficiaries, for the patient out there right now with a condition that has no cure, I ask that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support this amendment.

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Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I stand here in strong support of Ms. Scanlon's amendment to H.R. 3 and in strong support of H.R. 3, as well.

I can say, as a freshman Member of this delegation and this Congress, the number one thing that all of our constituents ask of us each and every day is to address this issue of prescription drug pricing and transparency into that process.

This bill and the underlying amendment therein support and affirm both those things. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill and its underlying amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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