Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 485, the so- called Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act of 2023.

This legislation harms the very people it says it protects, increases prescription drug costs, and decimates funding for essential public health programs.

Last Congress, Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, landmark legislation that gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to negotiate drug prices for Medicare. This critical step is estimated to lower drug prices by at least 25 percent, saving seniors and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and ensuring that people with Medicare get better, fairer prices for prescription drugs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that this provision in the IRA alone will save the government $100 billion over the next 10 years. In contrast, the CBO estimates that the bill before us today would not only increase drug prices across Federal health programs, but it would also increase Federal spending by $1.1 billion over the next 10 years by eliminating important tools to manage drug prices. Without effective tools to determine the value of a drug, the government is at a disadvantage, and the taxpayers pay the higher price.

We know that 8 in 10 adults in the United States today say that the cost of prescription drugs is too high, and we know that 3 in 10 say that they don't take all of their prescriptions as prescribed because they can't afford them. It is simply unacceptable.

It is unacceptable that Americans struggle so much to pay for the lifesaving and critical drugs that they need to ensure their quality of life.

Just last week, the Biden administration announced that it had sent initial offers to participating drug companies for the first 10 drugs selected for price negotiation, a milestone in implementing the IRA. These 10 drugs alone cost seniors $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs.

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Chair, let me repeat that: These 10 drugs alone cost seniors $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2022.

While Democrats and President Biden are fighting for lower drug costs, House Republicans want to stop negotiations altogether.

Democrats are delivering, and we will continue to work to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and families across our country, but this bill does not do that.

For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered this motion with an important amendment to the bill to prevent this bill from taking effect until the Secretaries of HHS, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, certify that it will not result in an increase in prescription drug prices or an increase in patient costs in the United States.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the text of my amendment.

Mrs. Fletcher moves to recommit the bill H.R. 485 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce with instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith, with the following amendment:

Add at the end the following new section: SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall not take effect until the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management certify that such amendments will not result in an increase in prescription drug prices or an increase in patient costs in the United States.

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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