Rep. Hill: Stop Putting Politics Ahead of Bipartisan Efforts to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Statement

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) released the following statement in opposition to H.R. 987, the MORE Health Education Act, after House Democratic leadership combined bipartisan bills to lower drug costs with partisan bills to bail out Obamacare:

"Fixing America's broken health care system is a bipartisan priority. While there are many opposing views on how to achieve this larger goal, Congress should still act on individual provisions when there is an overwhelming consensus. This year, I've joined my Democratic colleagues in supporting bipartisan legislation that lowers prescription drug costs by increasing competition and access to cheaper generic drugs.

"Instead of passing bills that have unanimous support, Speaker Pelosi chose to sabotage this opportunity to lower drug costs by combining non-partisan commonsense legislation with partisan legislation that bails out Obamacare. This is a blatant failure of leadership that proves Democratic leaders care more about scoring political points than helping Arkansans who can't afford their prescription drugs."

Background:

(Courtesy of the House Energy and Commerce Committee)
H.R. 987 combines three drug pricing bills that had bipartisan support in the House Energy and Commerce Committee with four Obamacare bills that were approved by the Energy and Commerce committee without Republican support.

The bipartisan drug provisions of the package include: H.R. 965, the CREATES Act, which would penalize branded drug makers that withhold samples from generic manufacturers; H.R. 1499, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act, which would ban pay-for-delay agreements; and H.R. 938, the Bringing Low-cost Options and Competition while Keeping Incentives for New Generics (BLOCKING) Act, which would limit first-approved generic makers' ability to stall another rival's launch.

The partisan Obamacare provisions include: H.R. 1385, which would give states $200 million annually in federal funding to establish state-based marketplaces; H.R. 1386, which would provide $100 million to the Federal-Facilitated Marketplace Navigator program; and H.R. 1010, which would reverse the Trump administration's expansion of short-term limited-duration insurance (STLDI) plans as an Obamacare alternative. H.R. 987, the underlying text, would restore Obamacare outreach and enrollment funding.

Source