As Democrats work to hammer out the final details of a massive social spending bill, they remain at odds over a key effort to lower prescription drug prices – a priority for many vulnerable Democrats, who say that falling short on this initiative could cost them their seats in the 2022 midterm elections.

What You Need To Know

  • As lawmakers attempt to hammer out the final details of their massive spending bill, they’re struggling to agree on a major provision to cut prescription drug prices – a key issue that some Democrats fear could hurt their chances of reelection next fall

  • A wide majority of American adults believe the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. is “unreasonable,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll reported earlier this month

  • And roughly three in 10 American adults also reported not taking their medications as prescribed at some point during the past year because of the high cost

  • But the effort comes as some moderate Democrats push to whittle down the price tag of the massive social spending package – with some members laser-focused on cutting health care costs, including the drug negotiation provision

A majority of Democrats want to grant Medicare more powers to help negotiate lower drug prices from pharmaceutical companies as one of the many provisions in Build Back Better legislation, which is still taking shape in Congress. But that provision remains unresolved, with lawmakers citing concerns about hampering competition and innovation.

“We pay more than the rest of the world for the drugs that we're developing here in the United States,” Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, said. “And so it doesn't make sense from a fairness perspective.

"But really, when you add up the costs something like insulin, it's not a luxury, it's not something that you know, you want to take," Allred continued. "You have to take it to survive. And so the cost of that can really add up.”

Reducing the cost of prescription drugs is a popular issue with voters across the political spectrum: According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released earlier this month, roughly 8 in 10 U.S. adults believe the cost of prescription drugs is “unreasonable.”

Roughly three in 10 American adults also reported not taking their medications as prescribed at some point during the past year because of the high cost, according to the Kaiser survey.

Garland, Texas, resident George Nolan has been advocating for Congress to lower drug prices for years. In an interview with Spectrum News, the 80-year-old Army veteran says he first experienced trouble breathing during the 2008 Occupy Wall Street protests.

Later, he learned his heart was not pumping as well as it should, and was prescribed a number of medications.

“It worked well,” Nolan said of the treatment. “But these drugs cost a lot of money.”

Under Medicare, he says, the prescription drugs would have cost him $300 for a 90-day supply, but with the help of the Department of Veterans, which can negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies, he pays just 30 dollars.

“I know, quite a few people that don't have veterans benefits in the Texas Alliance, Retired Americans, and half of them are … taking half of what's prescribed for them, and so forth,” Nolan told Spectrum News. “Because they got to put food on the table, pay for housing and so forth. And this is really killing people.”

In a Washington Post op-ed last month, Reps. Colin Allred, D-Texas, Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, Sharice Davids, D-Kan., Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., urged fellow lawmakers to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices in order to cut costs, citing the harm suffered by many voters in their districts, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Pharmacists in our districts are telling us that they are seeing more patients walk away from the counter without their medication,” the lawmakers wrote. “They tell us they are hearing from families who say they have no choice but to ration insulin. And they report speaking with seniors who have considered traveling to Canada or Mexico to find cheaper options.”

In the op-ed, lawmakers cited a study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that people on Medicare, as well as those with private insurance, “could see savings of as much as 55 percent for some medicines if Congress moves to limit the drugmakers’ monopoly.”

"At this moment, the pharmaceutical industry has monopoly power to set and raise prices for thousands of prescription drugs in the United States," the lawmakers wrote. "Through intimidation, deception and millions of dollars in lobbying, pharmaceutical companies have worked to keep the rules rigged in their favor to avoid competition from lower-cost drugs and to inflate profits for their executives. The current system is broken, and it is harming Americans."

"But now, Congress can stand on the side of consumers and take decisive action to lower prescription drug costs for millions of Americans," they continue. "By giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices, Congress can make sure patients come first."

But the push for affordable drug prices comes as a number of moderate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have pushed to whittle down the originally proposed $3.5 trillion spending package down to the neighborhood of $2 trillion.

And as talks on legislation enter the final stretch, lawmakers remain at odds over health care policy – and whether they can, in fact, include it in the Build Back Better agenda.

“It’s not dead,” declared House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said of the provision.

If it was, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Wednesday, “it would mean that the pharmaceutical industry, which has 1,500 paid lobbyists, the pharmaceutical industry, which made $50 billion in profits last year, the pharmaceutical industry, which pays its executives huge compensation packages, and which is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat this legislation, will have won.”

“And I intend to not allow that to happen,” he added.