ORLANDO, FL – Today Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) toured True Health and held a roundtable discussion with patients, health care professionals, and industry experts. The discussion focused on the devastating consequences of overturning the Affordable Care Act, and the work of House Democrats to address the soaring costs of prescription drugs. Rep. Demings is a cosponsor of the Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act.
Following this discussion, Rep. Demings released a new report on diabetes medication prices in Florida’s 10th District. The report was commissioned by Rep. Demings and prepared by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The report is available here.
The report shows that because Medicare is not allowed to negotiate drug prices, the costs to Medicare are nearly four times higher than in the United Kingdom, five times higher than in Australia, and three times higher than in Canada. For uninsured patients, the costs can be as much as 21 times higher.
Said Rep. Demings, “Dr. King said that of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. Let’s make this clear: access to health care is a matter of life and death. It is inexcusable that American families are dying for the sake of corporate profit. I am working in Congress to bring down costs for all Americans. Families should never have to worry that one illness or accident will mean bankruptcy or a lifetime without coverage.
“This new report shows that like so many other medications, insulin in Central Florida is vastly more expensive than it is in other countries. Americans should not have to pay five to twenty times more for their medication than people in Australia or Canada. I support efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate prices, like the VA, and to bring more generics to market.
“The Trump Administration is dead wrong in its lawsuit to strip healthcare from millions of Americans by ending the Affordable Care Act, which will cause immediate harm to older Americans, and increase out-of-pocket costs for families. Protections for patients with pre-existing conditions are not negotiable.”
