House Legislation on the Right Track

House Legislation Would Help Lower Prescription Drug Prices, Protect the Affordable Care Act

by Robert Roach, Jr.

House Democrats recently passed legislation to lower prescription drug costs and reverse the Administration’s attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA). H.R. 987, the “Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act,” passed 234-183.

The prescription drug provisions have significant bipartisan support, reflecting the fact that Americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Yet only four GOP House members voted for it.

The bill would make it easier for generic drugs to enter the market. Currently, some pharmaceutical corporations purposely delay the introduction of affordable generic alternatives. For example, they make brand-name samples of their drug unavailable to generic manufacturers for testing. By removing these and other barriers, H.R. 987 can reduce drug costs for millions of Americans.

The bill also blocks some of the most harmful elements of the Administration’s ACA sabotage by making it more difficult to sell inadequate short-term insurance plans that destabilize health care exchanges. 

The legislation improves outreach to help more Americans obtain health insurance, provides funds to create more state health exchanges and reduces health care costs for people with pre-existing conditions. Twenty-five million Americans aged 50 to 64 years old have one or more pre-existing conditions.

The House leadership passed this important legislation despite resistance from powerful drug corporations. Now we must dig in and urge Senators to follow suit. We have our work cut out for us.

Robert Roach, Jr. is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans.  He was previously General Secretary‐Treasurer of the IAMAW.  For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org.