Help Make Prescription Drugs More Affordable

This week, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill (S.3) to empower Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Your Senators need to hear from you immediately, so that we can overcome pressure from the pharmaceutical lobby to kill this bill.

 

AFSCME is asking you to send e-mails to both of your U.S. Senators, urging them to support S. 3, The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act. Please ACT NOW by sending this letter to your Senator.

 

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Please Vote to Make Prescription Drugs More Affordable

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Please empower Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices by voting for S. 3 when it comes to the Senate floor.

Seniors' drug prices are still too high. If empowered to do so, Medicare could help reduce prices by negotiating directly with the drug companies - using the enormous bargaining power of its 42 million beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the Part D law bars Medicare from doing just that.

It's clear that the Part D law protects drug company profits over the health of America's seniors. But you can vote to fix this mistake.. Please help seniors lower our drug costs by voting for S.3 - The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
April 16, 2007


Background Information

 

§        The bill, S. 3 - known as the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, will repeal the prohibition on the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) ability to negotiate with drug companies for lower Medicare Part D prices.

 

§        The bill also makes drug plan data on prices available to congressional and other government agencies for analysis.  Currently, there is no access to data on what drug plans pay for drugs and what drug companies give in concessions and rebates.

 

§        The bill also allows HHS to study the health effectiveness of drugs to determine which drugs, and what they cost, produce the best results. 

 

§        The bill does not go as far as the U.S. House passed bill, H.R. 4, which mandates that HHS negotiate with drug companies.

 

§        Because 60 votes are needed in the Senate to stop a filibuster, S. 3 is the best chance to get a bill to a House-Senate conference and then to the White House.  President Bush has threatened a veto.

 

§        The drug companies are spending millions on TV and newspaper ads and employ more than 600 lobbyists in Washington.

 

§        Remember Americans pay the highest drug prices in the world and seniors use and need drugs more than any other age group.

 

§        S. 3 is a first step in overhauling Part D to make it work for seniors.