Bill > SR18

Introduced Session

This resolution urges the Biden Administration to lift the regulatory freeze on executive orders that were designed to reduce the cost of life-saving prescription drugs for Americans. On July 24, 2020, President Donald J. Trump issued executive orders designed to significantly lower the price of life-saving prescription drugs for Americans, such as insulin and epinephrine. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, President Trump's executive orders would "[e]nd a shadowy system of kickbacks by middlemen that lurks behind the high out-of-pocket costs many Americans face at the pharmacy counter," and would provide Americans more options on purchasing the drugs. As President Trump signed the executive orders, he stated, "[t]he four orders I'm signing today will be on the prescription drug market in terms of pricing and everything else to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans." "The first order will require federal community health centers to pass the giant discounts they received from drug companies on insulin and EpiPens directly to their patients." President Trump added, "the price of insulin for affected patients will come down to just pennies a day, pennies a day from numbers that you weren't even able to think about. It's a massive cost savings." Providers "should not be receiving discounts for themselves while charging their poorest patients massive full prices," said President Trump. President Trump explained that his executive orders would allow states, wholesalers, and pharmacies to offer "safe and legal importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the price for the identical drug is incredibly lower." Referencing his fourth executive order, President Trump stated, "[f]or decades our citizens have paid the highest prices for drugs, prescription drugs, anywhere in the world (...) foreign nations have paid vastly less for the exact same drug again and the exact same box from the exact same plant, from the exact same company." "This means that Americans are funding the enormous cost of drug research and development for the entire planet," said President Trump." According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under President Trump's executive orders: American seniors would receive discounts in Medicare Part D; federally qualified health centers who purchase insulin and epinephrine would pass savings from discounted drug prices directly on to medically underserved patients, thus increasing access to life-saving insulin and epinephrine for patients who face especially high costs and who are uninsured; a rule allowing states to develop safe importation plans for certain prescription drugs would be finalized; the re-importation of insulin products made in the United States, if re-importation is required for emergency medical care, would be authorized; a pathway would be created for safe personal importation through the use of individual waivers to purchase drugs at lower cost from pre-authorized domestic pharmacies; and actions would be taken to ensure that Medicare and seniors pay no more for Medicare Part B drugs than is paid in any economically comparable nation, thus ending foreign reliance on American taxpayer and American pharmaceutical funding and investments to keep the price of their prescription drugs artificially low. On January 20, 2021, the Biden Administration announced a regulatory freeze on the implementation of President Trump's executive orders. By delaying in the implementation of President Trump's executive orders, millions of Americans who need prescription drugs, such as insulin and epinephrine are placed in peril, including seniors, the impoverished, and the uninsured.

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Joe Pennacchio (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document