Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAPO. The fact is that I completely agree with the objective of my colleagues on the floor today that we need to get transparency in the prescription drug pricing system.

Americans deserve a transparent, affordable, and accessible prescription drug market. Far too often, the current system fails to meet those needs. It is not only, though, because we haven't got ads on TV saying the list price of the drug--I don't have an opposition to just doing something like that--but it is much more complex. Vertically integrated health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, and other intermediaries suppress competition, pocket valuable drug discounts, and increase prices for consumers--all unrelated to the list price of the drug.

Last Congress, the Senate Finance Committee, which I chair, advanced a number of our bipartisan proposals to reform our broken prescription drug supply chain. Senator Grassley has just referenced those proposals, and he is a strong ally and advocate of those. These policies would ensure that patients, not middlemen, benefit from the negotiated price of drugs--not the price you see if you just look at the list price, the negotiated price of the drugs. With bipartisan support and cooperation, we can pass that package by the end of this year, but we need bipartisan support to move forward and do it.

While well-intended, the proposal before us today risks confusing patients further by requiring disclosure of list prices in advertisements that no consumer should pay--none. A drug's list price includes none of the discounts, rebates, or other price concessions found in net prices, which continue to decline even as other prices grow.

Rather than broadcast and validate a list price, Congress should ensure that patients can share in the savings reflected in the net pricing points, enabling both increased transparency and reduced out- of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter.

What I am saying is that this is complex, and we are working and have a working solution. I stand ready to work with the administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on an effective method to increase transparency and access to relevant information that patients need to make important choices about their own health but not to pull a bill out of our committee when we are already working in committee to get the right and most effective solution put into place.

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