Sen. Amy Klobuchar continues to push bill to lower prescription costs

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) was joined virtually by health leaders and advocate groups Friday to highlight her bill that aims to reduce prescription drug costs.

David Mitchell, President and Founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs (P4AD) and Steffany Stern, Vice President of Advocacy at the National MS Society expressed their support for the bill in the news conference.

Klobuchar said prescription drug prices in the U.S. are more than 250% higher than in other countries.

The bill includes provisions to end expensive, unpredictable medication prices, puts limits on out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 for Medicare Part D beneficiaries and caps insulin co-pays at $35 a month.

“Passing this legislation is going to reduce spending for millions of patients,” Klobuchar said. “I believe we are going to finally get something done on this. This is major game changer when it comes to pharmaceuticals. We have finally built the political support to bring costs down for Americans.”

Mayo Clinic physician Dr. Vincent Rajkumar is an oncologist and hematologist that also has experience with drug trials and research.

He said capping co-pays and medication costs is a modest, but good start.

“Every new drug is expensive,” Dr. Rajkumar said. “Every new cancer drug since 2017 is more than $100,000 a year. The truth is that there are very few allies. There are very people that speak up. Patients’ voices are silenced. Many, many organizations get funding from Pharma and are silent. So we really need the public on our side.”

The bill reportedly has support from AARP, Democrats and President Joe Biden.