Lawmakers hail passage of prescription drug bill

The U.S. House on Thursday approved an ambitious bill that would dramatically lower the cost of popular drugs, like insulin and other commonly prescribed medications, for Medicare patients and other Americans.

All Connecticut House members voted for the bill, and three of them — Reps. John Larson, D-1st District, Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Jahana Hayes, D-5th District — were original co-sponsors.

“People are skipping dosages and cutting pills in half just to try and square their wallets with their doctors’ orders,” Courtney said during debate on the bill. “Americans are being used as piggy banks by certain pharmaceutical manufacturers, and it’s time for it to end.”

Larson said a constituent from Wethersfield wrote him that “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 the woman had an allergic reaction, Larson said, she called 911 because she lacked the expensive inhaler she needed.

“This is not how it should be in America,” he said. H.R. 3, or the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, named after the long-term Maryland lawmaker who died last month, is unlikely to get through the Senate. And the White House has announced that President Donald Trump would veto it if it came to his desk.

But parts of the bill have companions in the Senate and its most ambitious provision — allowing the federal government to negotiate prescription drug costs like private insurers do — has strong support among advocates for seniors, including AARP.