On a Press Call, Senator Stabenow, Andy Slavitt and Protect Our Care Highlighted Priorities Heading Into August Recess; Democrats’ Agenda to Lower Drug Prices And Focus on Holding Republicans Accountable For Supporting Trump’s Texas Lawsuit
Washington, DC – Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee on Finance, former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt and Protect Our Care held a press call today to highlight Republicans’ refusal to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and for their failure to denounce Trump’s disastrous Texas lawsuit to overturn America’s health care. On the call, Senator Stabenow made clear the dire situation of the crippling cost of prescription drugs facing the American people, and how Republicans continue to block meaningful legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Nearly nine out of ten Americans support requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug costs, yet Republicans continue to reject legislation allowing it to do so, all while supporting a lawsuit that would strip millions of Americans of their health care and raise costs across the board.
Both Andy Slavitt and Brad Woodhouse discussed the health care emergency created by the Trump-Texas lawsuit and why it represents the most clear and present danger to Americans’ health care today. The call also previewed Protect Our Care’s Health Care Emergency Bus Tour, which will be making stops in Michigan as well as 12 other states throughout the month of August to hold Republicans accountable for supporting Trump’s disastrous lawsuit.
“Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world,” said Senator Stabenow. “If Republicans were serious about lowering these prices, they would have stood up to the drug lobbyists and supported my amendment in the Senate Finance Committee to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices. This is the single most effective thing we can do to lower drug prices for American families today.”
“We must focus much more on the massive theft happening before our eyes as Trump and Republican state Attorneys General collude to rip health care away from millions of Americans,” said former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt.
“While Democrats go home this August recess and talk about the actions they’ve taken to lower the cost of prescription drugs and make health care more affordable, Republicans will have to answer for why they continue supporting Trump’s lawsuit and block meaningful progress to lower costs,” said Protect Our Care executive director Brad Woodhouse. “Throughout August, Protect Our Care’s bus tour will travel the country highlighting the health care emergency Trump and his Republican allies have created for the American people with their lawsuit to overturn health care.”
Listen to audio from the call here