Washington, D.C. – Today, Senators Peter Welch (D-VT), Wyden (D-OR), and Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced the No Big Blockbuster Bailouts Act (NOBBBA) to reverse policies in the GOP’s tax bill that impede Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower prices of some of the most commonly used, high-cost drugs. Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that in that tax bill, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress gave big drug companies a jaw-dropping $8.8 billion bailout.
The GOP scam tax bill handed big drug companies one of their biggest victories in years: putting new restrictions on when and what prescription drugs Medicare can negotiate. Many of the medications that would be exempted under the new loophole are some of the most profitable drugs on the market and are among the most commonly used drugs for conditions such as cancer and hypertension. The only reason for Donald Trump and Republicans to grant drug companies this victory is to pad their pockets, which are already so profitable that they could lose $1 trillion in revenue over a decade and still be the most profitable industry in the world.
“While Republicans put American health care on the chopping block to prove their loyalty to big drug companies, Democrats are putting in the work for everyday people,” said Protect Our Care Director of Policy Programs Vaishu Jawahar. “Senators Welch, Wyden, and Cortez Masto are introducing critical legislation to ensure that seniors, people with disabilities, and working families can access and obtain the critical, affordable prescriptions they rely on. No one should have to choose between paying for their prescriptions and putting food on the table. The ‘No Big Blockbuster Bailouts Act’ is a crucial step in defending against Donald Trump and Republicans’ war on Americans’ health care.”
Background:
- Drug companies have spent months schmoozing Donald Trump at his Mar-A-Lago estate, making multimillion-dollar donations, and it is paying off big time.
- Drugmakers such as Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson and Johnson, who are raking in billions from Trump’s Big Pharma bailout pocketed an average of $72 billion in net profits and spent an average of $82 billion more on shareholder compensation than research and development since the launch of these drugs, all while collectively spending hundreds of millions lobbying to protect their egregious profits.
- Republicans designed this bailout to carve out top-selling products such as Keytruda and Opdivo from drug price negotiation, ensuring drug companies’ exorbitant profits remain untouched while seniors continue to be forced to choose between putting food on the table and affording the health care they need to survive.
- While six in ten seniors report being concerned about their ability to afford prescription drugs, Republicans are hiking prescription drug prices for seniors.
- 92 percent of the American public believes Trump and Congress should expand the number of prescription drugs in the Medicare Drug Negotiation Program – not limit it.