Seniors Should Not Be “Guinea Pigs” for Price Control Schemes

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (July 24, 2019) – 60 Plus Association and American Association of Senior Citizens Founder and Chairman James Martin today issued the following statement in response proposals regarding pharmaceutical drug price policy:

“The proposal out of the Senate Finance Committee is a bad bill. It fails to fairly share the burden of lowering drug costs for senior citizens across the health care industry, falls short of providing seniors meaningful relief from prescription drug costs, threatens to stifle medical innovation and risks the overall quality of Medicare Part D. 

“This bill also invites price controls, which is the wrong approach. We understand Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is prepared to fight against price controls and we wholeheartedly support his amendment doing so. 

“While the Senate Finance Committee proposal offers a little relief for seniors who are enrolled in Medicare Part D, we cannot stand by and let Congress turn these seniors into guinea pigs to see if International Price Indexing works. Simply put, price controls do not work. They have never worked. The only result of price controls will be less medical innovation, and that is never a good thing, for seniors or anyone else. 

“Drug price policy is very complicated, and it involves a lot more than just drug companies. Pharmacy Benefit Managers who serve as middle-men, insurance companies and pharmacies are all part of the system and efforts to lower drug costs to patients are the responsibility of all of these players, not just the people who make the drugs that improve and save lives.”

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