OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Prescription Drug Costs

Floor Speech

Date: July 31, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health Insurance

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, there is too much secrecy in drug pricing, particularly in who benefits from rebates. Not all rebates are created equal in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.

Rebate obligations for brand-name drugs are currently based on both brand-name and authorized generic drug sales. That means brand-name drug manufacturers pay less in rebate obligations.

The bipartisan legislation I introduced with Senator Wyden fixes this. It ensures that brand-name drug manufacturers pay--like common sense ought to dictate--brand-name rebates. This reduces gaming in the system to make sure authorized generics come to market for a purpose related to patient access, not just to lower brand-name rebate obligations.

Transparency brings accountability, and with transparency and accountability, the market works better, competition works better, and in the end, gets the price of drugs down.

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