Sanders vows to cut prescription prices in half if elected president
Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) vowed Sunday to cut prescription drug prices in half if elected president in 2020.
“It is absurd that Americans are forced to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the top 5 drug companies made over $50 billion in profits last year,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“We have a national health emergency when one out of five Americans cannot afford to purchase the medicine their doctors prescribe. Whether the drug companies like it or not, that is a situation which must end, and end soon.”
Vermont Independent and 2020 presidential hopeful @BernieSanders tells @margbrennan: “Let me make a campaign promise to you…If I am elected president, I’m going to cut prescription drug costs in this country by 50 percent” https://t.co/CSDeSnq9Xg pic.twitter.com/iQ5mTYqDQR
Click Here: Putters— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 31, 2019
Sanders, who declared his 2020 candidacy in February, has aggressively targeted lowering prescription drug prices.
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In January, joined by several Democratic lawmakers, the Vermont senator introduced a sweeping set of bills to tackle high prices.
The bills would allow importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and strip monopolies from drug companies if their prices were above the average price in other wealthy countries.
Although legislation like those bills is unlikely to be approved by a Republican-controlled Senate, several 2020 Democratic nominees have joined in on rolling out plans to lower prescription costs.
Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill Trump on collision course with Congress over bases with Confederate names MORE (D-Mass.), for example, introduced a bill late last year to let the government manufacture certain drugs and sell them at lower prices if there is not enough competition.
Sen. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerRand Paul introduces bill to end no-knock warrants Black lawmakers unveil bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk MORE (D-N.J.) recently introduced a bill to increase transparency requirements around drug company payments to people with influence over deciding which drugs Medicaid covers.
Sanders also made fighting pharmaceutical companies a central theme of his ultimately failed 2016 presidential campaign.