House panel discusses legislation to lower prescription drug costs

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today held a hearing to discuss four bills aimed at making prescription drugs more affordable for Americans. “It is time for Congress to take bold and decisive action to reduce prescription drug prices for all Americans,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Among other bills, the subcommittee discussed the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 (H.R. 3). Introduced last week by House Democratic leaders, the bill would make a series of changes to the Medicare program in an effort to lower the price of prescription drugs, including allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers the price of at least 25 — and up to 250 — brand-name prescription drugs that lack price competition in the market. Witnesses at the hearing were from Baldwin Wallace University, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and American Enterprise Institute.