In an effort to curb what Hillary Clinton calls "excessive profiteering" by pharmaceutical companies, the Democratic presidential front-runner plans to roll out a new proposal on Tuesday that would lower the costs of prescription drugs.
The plan would target insurers by placing a $250 monthly cap on what patients with chronic and serious medical conditions would have to pay out-of-pocket for certain prescription drugs, reports USA Today. It would also force pharmaceutical companies to reinvest profits into research and encourage the development and use of generic drugs.
Drug companies would also be prohibited from writing off direct-to-consumer advertising costs as a business expense, for tax purposes, according to Reuters.
So-called "pay-for-delay agreements" would also be prohibited, which is when a company that makes a brand-name drug pays a competitor that makes generic drugs to withhold its product from the market for a certain amount of time.
Clinton's campaign criticized the nation's largest drug companies for charging Americans thousands of dollars for new medication that is often sold for much less in other developed countries, while at the same time receiving billions in taxpayer money for research, according to USA Today.
"It is time to deal with skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs and runaway prescription drug prices," Clinton said Monday at a campaign rally in Little Rock, Ark., reports Bloomberg.
She then referred to a New York Times report published over the weekend about the cost of a 62-year-old medicine being hiked overnight from $13.50 a pill to $750 after a new company bought it last month. Nobody in America "should have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent," she said.
Clinton will outline the plan at a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday. Her campaign says the proposals will save well over $100 billion over 10 years, according to Politico.
According to Clinton's campaign, her plan involves the following:
- Deny tax breaks for consumer advertising and demand that drug companies instead invest U.S. taxpayer dollars in research and development. Many companies benefit from corporate write-offs for advertising aimed specifically at consumers. Companies that receive federal funds would be required to reinvest a certain amount in research.
- Encourage the production of generic drugs including lowering the amount of time companies can exclusively produce new treatments.
- Cap what insurers can charge consumers with chronic or serious health conditions in out-of-pocket costs. Health insurance plans would place a monthly limit of $250 on out-of-pocket costs for such patients.
- Allow Americans to import drugs from abroad. Countries in Europe with similar safety standards often pay half of what American pay for the same drugs, according to the campaign.
- Allow Medicare to negotiate drug and biologic prices, especially for high-cost drugs with limited competition.
Clinton is expected to introduce separate proposals on Wednesday to address other out-of-pocket health care costs.
