Senator McSally Announces She Will Introduce Her Prescription Drug Bill Next Week

Senator Martha McSally announced Wednesday night she will introduce legislation next week that would lower the cost of prescription drugs. McSally says the bill would significantly lower patients’ out-of-pocket expenses by promoting a more competitive and transparent marketplace for prescription drugs. McSally joined us in studio recently and talked about prescription drugs. She told KAFF News, “we have pharmaceutical companies that are cheating once their patent expires and they are monopolizing medicines that are boxing out their competition and are continuing to raise the prices of prescription drugs.” She adds, “we need to stop that from happening.” McSally’s bill would allow Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices that are past their original patent expiration, but still maintain a monopoly for that drug. It would also permit the safe re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada that meet FDA safety standards. It would curb the ability of drug companies to abuse the patent system to delay competition and prevent cheaper alternatives from entering the market and it would cap out of pocket expenses for prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare at $3,100 each year. McSally hopes she will get bipartisan support for her bill.