Prescription drugs cost too way much in our country. Everyone knows it and everyone deals with it. Yet, no politician dared take on the all-powerful Pharma lobby. Not Obama, not Clinton, not Bush. No, only Donald Trump is willing to stand tall against the corruption.
And what happens? Grassley comes out and blindsides him. Chuck says he has some swampy bipartisan plan that will certainly be full of loopholes and toothless rules.
So, if they block President Trump from bringing big Pharma to heel, as literally every single American wants to see happen, they are handing the Democrats a huge political gift.
The Hill reported that on Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced his opposition to one of President Trump’s signature proposals aimed at lowering drug prices.
Grassley spoke with reporters and told them that he opposes a plan that the President announced in October to lower the prices Medicare pays for certain drugs by tying them to lower prices paid in other countries, an idea known as the International Pricing Index.
The move from Trump was a sharp break from traditional GOP free-market ideology on drug pricing, closer to what Democrats usually propose.
Grassley had long held his fire, saying he was waiting for the administration to formally propose a regulation. But this Wednesday, he stated that he was not going to wait any longer.
“I don’t think that this administration’s approach on international pricing is going to be to the benefit of the adoption of and research for modern drugs,” he said.
“You’ve heard me say in these meetings before that I’m going to wait until there’s a real proposal to put out before I take a stand, but I think I’ve studied it long enough now that I’ll stick by what I just told you,” he added.
There has been rumors that the Trump administration will not ever finalize the proposal, which has not yet gone into effect, and is instead using it as an incentive for industry to come to the table with other ideas.
The opposition from Grassley, a powerful chairman in Trump’s party, makes it even harder for the administration to move forward. The pharmaceutical industry, a powerful lobbying force, is also fiercely opposed to the idea.
Grassley is working on his own proposal to lower drug prices along with Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the committee. Earlier on Wednesday, He told The Hill that he thinks the deal is “about 85 percent” complete but that “there’s a couple issues that are more difficult” that still need to be addressed.
