The U.S. House of Representatives has split with the Senate over requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose the list price of their prescription medications in television advertisements.
The U.S. House of Representatives has split with the Senate over requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose the list price of their prescription medications in television advertisements. The notion of including the cost of medications was a key provision of the White House’s healthcare proposal.
In August the Senate approved a measure to disclose drug prices in television advertisements with bipartisan support. Supporters have said the measure is essential in increasing the transparency of prescription costs and would ultimately work in bringing down the price of medication. Members of the U.S. House though, felt otherwise as they negotiated with the upper chamber on the spending plan. According to The Hill, lawmakers, specifically House Republicans who are in the majority, objected to including the provision in the final bill. In its report, The Hill, did not little in the way of additional information on the reasons behind the House decision to pull the requirement. However, The Hill noted that Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and the top health appropriator in the House, confirmed some House Republicans opposed the provision. Cole told The Hill that he would not get into specifics regarding those oppositions.
However, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and one of the co-sponsors of the Senate bill, called the House Republicans out on Twitter. In his tweet, Durbin said the primary driver for prescription price increases is television advertisements. He said the costs of those commercials cause the price of those medications to rise “without telling patients how much it costs.” He said the country needs transparency when it comes to the price of medications and said it was time consumers were made a priority “ahead of Big Pharma.” Durbin went on to call it “disappointing” that the measure was “pulled at the last minute by House GOP.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and Durbin’s Senate cosponsor, also expressed his disappointment on Twitter.
“It is EMBARRASSING to bow to BIG PHARMA at expense of consumers,” he tweeted. Grassley added that the measure is supported by the administration of President Donald Trump and received bipartisan support in the Senate.
“If we can agree, why are lobbyists fighting?” Grassley asked.
Including the list price of prescription drugs in television advertisements has been part of the Trump administration’s drug pricing reform proposal. The White House said “lack of transparency in drug pricing benefits special interests and prevents patients from being able to make fully informed decisions about their care.”
While the Congressional bill will not require television advertisements to include list price of prescription drugs, Seeking Alpha noted that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a former Eli Lilly executive, said the disclosure of prescription medication costs falls under “fair balance risk and regulation.” But, whether or not Azar will force the issue remains to be seen. In August, Azar also told reporters that the issue of drug rebates, which are negotiated by PBMs, can be addressed by his department. The rebates are part of the current pricing system that is supposed to reduce the cost of prescription medications.
