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Key Takeaways:

• Democrats are reviving their socialist drug pricing scheme from their failed radical tax and spending spree.
• H.R. 6833 is the largest expansion of federal command and control in Americans’ private health insurance design since Obamacare and takes us one step closer to Medicare for All.
• It raises premiums on seniors and the 217 million Americans who rely on private insurance.  
• It is only “paid for” by one of the Democrats’ favorite budget gimmicks, delaying President Trump’s rebate rule. If Democrats were serious about lowering drug costs, they would abandon their partisanship and work with us to reform the convoluted rebate system so patients—not PBMs—benefit from drug discounts.
• There’s a better way: The bipartisan Lower Costs, More Cures Act (H.R. 19), which would address the root causes of high insulin prices, and lower costs for all patients.

The Bipartisan Solution that Works: The Lower Costs, More Cures Act (H.R. 19) lowers costs for all prescription drugs, including insulin.

• Every provision in H.R. 19 is bipartisan. It will lower health care costs and ensure America leads in health care innovation for more cures and treatments.
• It gives patients more drug price transparency and ensures public disclosure of drug costs and discounts.
• It increases low-cost options by bringing more generic and biosimilar competition to the marketplace fast.
• It caps seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $50 per month.
• It allows high deductible health insurance plans to cover insulin before the deductible kicks in.

Democrats Rely on Budget Gimmicks and Raise Premiums on Seniors and Workers to Pretend Insulin is Cheaper:

• Higher Prices for Insulin: Democrats’ bill allows manufacturers to raise the prices of insulin without scrutiny, leading to higher costs for patients through increased premiums or higher cost-sharing.
• Fewer Low-Cost Options: This bill will decrease the number of generic insulins on the market.
• Imposes Costly Drug Mandates: Mandates private insurers cover selected insulin products at a government-imposed price cap of the lesser of $35/month or 25 percent of the negotiated price.
  • Requires Medicare Part D plans (including Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans) to face a coverage mandate and to remove application of the deductible to applicable insulin expenses and caps monthly patient spending at no more than $35. 

• Uses a Budget Gimmick to Delay a Trump Admin Rule that “Finds” Money Simply by Delaying Regulations:
  • Democrats’ price control legislation will cost over $11 billion to the federal government, with higher premiums paid for by higher subsidies.
  • Further delays the Trump Administration rebate rule, which would lower out of pocket costs for patients with all diseases, for one additional year, “saving” $20 billion.
• $9 billion slush fund: Adds the remaining nearly $9 billion in purported savings to the Medicare Improvement Fund (MIF), which Democrats will likely spend on other partisan priorities.

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