To lower drug costs, pass Inflation Reduction Act

In an op-ed that ran recently in The Morning Call, the director of the Global Colon Cancer Association tried to make the debunked case that having the government negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid patients (which all countries with reasonable drug prices already do) would impair the ability of those companies to develop life-saving drugs. He neglected to say that a large percentage of initial drug research is already done by the National Institutes for Health and government grants to universities and other entities, funded by you, the taxpayer. Big Pharma then uses that data to produce medications. And guess who GCCA is sponsored by — surprise — Big Pharma. No mention was made of the countless folks who are unable to afford these life-saving drugs.

I’m disappointed that The Morning Call allowed essentially a free half-page ad to a wing of the pharmaceutical lobby machine to discourage citizens from contacting their congressional representatives to ask that they vote for the Inflation Reduction Act. Don’t be fooled. If this act is passed, fewer people will need to go turn to Mexico and Canada for affordable prescriptions. Call now.

Karen Montgomery

Bethlehem Township