Lower Costs, More Cures Act Would Ensure Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs

Washington, D.C.--At a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing on prescription drug pricing, Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) touted his legislation, the Lower Costs, More Cures Act, to tackle prescription drug prices and encourage new treatments.

To view these remarks, click HERE.

“Congress plays an important role in ensuring access to affordable prescription drugs for Americans from all walks of life.  To that end, last year, I reintroduced the Lower Costs, More Cures Act. 

“This comprehensive legislation contains dozens of concrete proposals aimed at lowering out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter, in addition to strengthening supply chain oversight and combating foreign freeloading.  With inflation at forty-year highs, straining family finances for far too many Americans, the Lower Costs, More Cures Act would bring peace of mind to seniors across the nation by placing a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug spending under Medicare Part D. 

“We have a responsibility to pursue solutions that reduce out-of-pocket drug spending, particularly for seniors.  The Lower Costs, More Cures Act provides a practical blueprint for this type of initiative, leveraging targeted policies with bipartisan backing to address the needs of Americans at the pharmacy counter, the hospital, and the doctor’s office. 

“We also need to identify policies that tackle the root causes and drivers of inflation, which rose to a staggering 7.9 percent rate, year-over-year, last month.  This means reducing our crippling deficit; unleashing American energy; streamlining costly regulations that have strained small businesses; and protecting the tax reforms implemented under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which led to record-high levels of business investment, historic lows in unemployment and poverty, and record-high incomes during the past Administration.”

The Lower Costs, More Cures Act, among other things, would:

• Modernize payments for drugs delivered in the doctor’s office under Medicare Part B;
• Incentivize lower-cost alternatives, or biosimilars;
• Establish an annual out-of-pocket cap of $3,100 for Medicare Part D enrollees and allow certain patients to pay in monthly installments;
• Decrease beneficiary cost sharing from 25 percent to 15 percent of costs before the out-of-pocket cap is reached; 
• Allow prescription drug plan sponsors to offer, at minimum, up to four Part D plans per region, spurring competition and innovation;
• Make permanent the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation model that enables Part D enrollees taking insulin to limit out-of-pocket costs to $35;
• Allow state Medicaid programs to enter in outcomes-based agreements to pay for life-saving gene therapy treatments;
• Provide the HHS Secretary with the authority to require drug manufacturers to provide pricing information on all direct-to-consumer advertising;
• Codify a Trump Administration regulatory action that classifies insulin and other treatments for chronic conditions as preventative care so that high deductible health plans can cover costs before the patient reaches the deductible; and
• Create a trade negotiator solely dedicated to putting American patients first in government trade negotiations related to medicines in order to prevent foreign free-loading off America’s investment.

Full text of the LCMCA can be found HERE, and a section-by-section can be found HERE. 

###