Global Courant
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The American healthcare system is broken. Despite spending twice as much on health care per capita as the people of any other country, nearly $13,000 per person, we have 85 million Americans who are uninsured or underinsured and more than 500,000 households going out of business each year due to medical bills.
Further, while insurance companies make tens of billions a year in profits, we have a serious shortage of doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health practitioners. Even with proper insurance, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many patients to arrange timely visits to their doctor.
One of the reasons our healthcare system is so broken and expensive is the insanely high cost of prescription drugs. In the United States, we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Here are just a few examples of what we pay compared to other countries:
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Novo Nordisk charges Americans with diabetes $12,000 for Ozempic, when the exact same drug can be had for just $2,000 in Canada.
Novo Nordisk charges patients with diabetes $12,000 for Ozempic or about six times what the drug can be purchased for in Canada. (iStock)
Eli Lilly is charging the American people nearly $200,000 for Cyramza to treat stomach cancer – a drug that can be bought for just $54,000 in Germany.
Sanofi is charging America more than $200,000 for Caprelsa to treat thyroid cancer – a drug that can be bought for as little as $30,000 in France.
Gilead is charging Americans with non-Hodgkin lymphoma $424,000 for Yescarta – a therapy that can be purchased in Japan for just $212,000.
Even more disturbing is the reality that more than half of the new drugs hitting the market today cost more than $220,000, with some costing more than $1 million.
While 85% of basic cancer research is funded by US taxpayers, the median cost of new cancer drugs has increased more than 300% in the past decade.
Here are the costs of some new drugs:
Hemgenix, a gene therapy for the treatment of a rare blood disorder, was approved last year with a price tag of $3.5 million, making it the most expensive drug in world history.
Luxturna, a therapy to treat retinal diseases, was approved by the FDA in 2017 with a price tag of $850,000.
Gilead’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment costs $424,000 for Yescarta — which is double what it costs in Japan. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo/File Photo)
Myalept, a therapy to treat leptin deficiency, is now being sold in the US for a price of $1.9 million after FDA approval in 2014.
The high cost of prescription drugs leads to higher healthcare costs by driving up hospital bills and insurance costs. It also raises Medicare premiums and threatens that program’s solvency as Medicare is forced to pay the skyrocketing prices the drug companies demand.
Further, with one in four Americans unable to afford the prescriptions their doctors prescribe, many of our people are getting sicker than they should and far too many have died needlessly.
At a time when 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies made more than $112 billion in profits last year, why do we continue to pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
That is not difficult to understand. Follow the money. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most powerful political forces in America. In a Congress of 100 Senators and 435 House members, the pharmaceutical industry has more than 1,800 well-paid lobbyists on Capitol Hill. These include former leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties.
Last year alone, the drug companies spent more than $375 million lobbying Congress. Further, over the past 25 years, the pharmaceutical industry has provided massive amounts of campaign contributions to both political parties and nearly every member of Congress. With unlimited financial resources, they can also spend billions on TV and print advertising.
And what is the result of all that political power? With few exceptions, the pharmaceutical companies are totally unregulated. They can set their prices to any level they want for any reason. And they do!
While the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act takes some very modest steps forward, it is clear that we have much more to do.
The high cost of prescription drugs leads to higher healthcare costs by driving up hospital bills and insurance costs. It also raises Medicare premiums and threatens that program’s solvency as Medicare is forced to pay the skyrocketing prices the drug companies demand.
Let me briefly mention what the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which I now chair, has done in recent months to deal with this crisis.
In February, the HELP commission launched an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry’s greed and the outrageous fees it pays its CEOs. We found that in 2021, as hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVID-19, 50 drug company executives in just ten companies earned $1.9 billion in total compensation and are eligible to receive up to $2.8 billion in golden parachutes once they leave their company.
In March, the HELP committee held a hearing on the absurdity of Moderna quadrupling the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to $130 after receiving $12 billion in tax dollars from the federal government.
While Moderna has refused to lower the outrageous price of this vaccine, it has committed to ensuring that every uninsured American can get it for free at pharmacies across the country.
Senator Bernie Sanders told President Joe Biden (pictured above) that he would oppose any new federal health care nominees until the president releases a plan to lower prescription drug prices. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
That same month, I asked the Biden administration to reconsider its decision to reject a petition from cancer patients to significantly lower the price of the prostate cancer drug Xtandi by allowing companies to produce generic versions of it at a much lower price. lower price. This is a drug that was invented with tax dollars by scientists at UCLA and can be bought in Canada for a fifth of the US price.
In May, the HELP committee held a hearing on the need to make insulin affordable for every American who needs it. At this hearing, Eli Lilly’s CEO pledged that his company would not raise the price of its existing insulin products after announcing that it would charge only $25 for Lispro and cut the price of Humalog and Humulin by 70% by the end of the term would decrease. year.
A few weeks later, the HELP committee voted overwhelmingly to pass four pieces of legislation to make cheap generic prescription drugs more available to the American people and to address the greed of pharmacy benefit administrators, who cut their profits by 483 % increased compared to the last century. last decade to $27.5 billion.
This month, the HELP committee released a report finding that half of the prescription drugs invented with the help of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now cost more than $111,000. In other words, despite the fact that taxpayers fund research on many drugs, we are still forced to pay exorbitant prices.
Further, while insurance companies make tens of billions a year in profits, we have a serious shortage of doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health practitioners. Even with proper insurance, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many patients to arrange timely visits to their doctor.
Importantly, this report recommended that the NIH reinstate and expand the requirement that drug companies set reasonable prices for new prescription drugs developed with taxpayer support.
On June 6, I wrote to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that taxpayers and Medicare recipients are not forced to pay $26,500 for the new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi — which independent experts say should be slashed up to $8,900.
In particular, I asked HHS to use its power under existing law to break the patent monopoly on Leqembi if the manufacturers of this drug refuse to lower the price.
Further, just a few weeks ago, I made it clear to the Biden administration that I will not support any candidate to run a federal healthcare facility until the administration releases a comprehensive plan to significantly reduce the price of prescription drugs.
For decades, presidents of both political parties have talked about significantly lowering drug prices, but very little has happened. Now it’s time for real action.
As Chair of the HELP Committee, here’s just a sampling of the legislation I think we should pass:
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Last month, I introduced legislation requiring Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than the Department of Veterans Affairs—an agency that has spent the past three decades negotiating with the big drug companies to lower the price of drugs.
If signed into law, this legislation would save Medicare $835 billion over the next decade and cut the price Medicare pays for prescription drugs in half.
I will soon introduce legislation to reduce the price of prescription drugs by at least 50 percent by preventing the pharmaceutical industry from charging more for drugs in the US than in Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Japan – a concept that not only supported by progressives, but former president Donald Trump.
I will introduce legislation to allow patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to buy affordable prescription drugs from Canada, the United Kingdom and other major countries with high safety standards.
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Yes. There are many issues that divide the American people, but not this one. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, Progressive or Conservative, you understand that the drug industry’s outrageous greed needs to be addressed.
Together we must substantially reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Let’s do it.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM SEN. BERNIE SANDERS
Bernie Sanders is an independent who represents Vermont in the United States Senate.
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