Larson Votes to Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Americans

Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) voted for the H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. Larson is a cosponsor of the legislation.

"Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed over the years. A woman from Wethersfield wrote in to me to say, ‘The cost of the Epi-Pen is outrageous. Even with my insurance it is so expensive I couldn't get the prescription filled and took my chances. When I had an allergic reaction I called 911 instead.' This is not how it should be in America. I'm proud to vote for this vital legislation today," said Larson.

H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act:

• Gives Medicare the power to negotiate directly with the drug companies. Larson's Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act also allows this.
• Makes the lower drug prices negotiated by Medicare available to Americans with private insurance, not just Medicare beneficiaries.
• Creates a new, $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, and reverses years of unfair price hikes above inflation across thousands of drugs in Medicare.
• Includes dental, hearing, and vision coverage for Medicare Part B for the first time.
• Reinvests in innovation and the search for new cures and treatments, by investing $10 billion for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Provides $10 billion in direct funding over five years to address the opioid epidemic.
• Addresses the maternal mortality crisis, by doubling the investment in the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, a proven tool to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.

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