Spectrum Bay News 9 Political Reporter Mitch Perry is looking for deeper meaning in politics and government so our local stories have more of a connection in your daily life.

The congressional members representing the Tampa Bay area are in agreement that prescription drug prices are far too expensive, but they differ on what would be the best vehicle to remedy the situation.

  • A Democratic-backed bill on reducing prescription drug prices will be voted on in the House later this week
  • Republicans say the bill could discourage the development of life-saving drugs
  • Americans on average spend more on prescription drugs than in any other developed country in the world

A 2018 analysis shows that the U.S. had the highest spending per capita for prescription drugs among nearly a dozen other high-income countries. That's prompted President Trump repeatedly to vow that he wants to lower the cost of expensive medicines. 

In Washington, the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on a bill (HR 3) that empowers the Secretary of Health & Human Services to negotiate the price of drugs and caps annual out-of-pocket costs in Medicare Part D. The bill would specifically allow the government to negotiate up from between 25 to 250 drugs per year.

“We pay three, five, 10 times more for our prescription drugs here in America than people in other countries. That’s not fair, and for too long, the powers that be in Washington D.C. have let these pharmaceutical companies get away with it,” Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor said during a news conference in West Tampa earlier this week. “Well, no more. No more price gouging. No more ripping us off.”

Castor was joined by her fellow Democratic colleague from across the Bay – St. Petersburg based Rep. Charlie Crist.

“In the U.S., medication prices are rising at four times the rate of inflation. Four times the rate,” Crist said. “For millions of Americans living with diabetes, the numbers are even worse.”

The push to support the bill this week is being driven at the highest levels of the Democratic Party. The Democratic National Committee, the Florida Democratic Party, and state parties in four other swing states are launching web videos and holding media events to get the message to contrast with Republicans on health care, CQ Roll Call reported this week.

So where do Republican members of Congress in the Tampa Bay area stand on the issue?

A spokeswoman for Rep. Vern Buchanan says the Sarasota-based representative is looking at several proposals that aim to lower drug prices.

“We’re still going through HR 3, HR 19 and the Senate Finance Committee proposals, which are all aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs,” Buchanan spokesperson Chloe Conboy wrote in an email. “However, we do have concerns that HR 3 could discourage the development of life-saving drugs and innovative therapies to treat cancer, Alzheimer’s and other deadly diseases.“

HR 19 is sponsored by Oregon Republican Greg Walden.  He says that his bill would achieve lower drug prices “without imposing government price controls that would drastically decrease research and development spending for new cures.”

The bill that seemingly has the best chances of passage is a Senate proposal sponsored by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden that would limit out-of-pocket costs for seniors in Medicare’s Part D prescription drug program to $3,100 a year beginning in 2022.

Pasco-Pinellas based GOP Congressman Gus Bilirakis supports HR 19. 

“The White House Council of Economic Advisors recently issued a report finding that if H.R. 3 were passed, 100 lifesaving drugs could be kept from American patients," he told Spectrum Bay News 9 in a statement. "Despite this warning, House Leadership is still pushing full steam ahead with this partisan approach to lowering the cost of Rx Drugs, despite the fact that they have been told this amended version of the bill cannot pass the Senate and will never be signed into law.”

A representative from Congressman Ross Spano said he wouldn’t issue a formal statement until after the bill on HR 3 comes to the House this week. She did say, however,  that the National Right to Life had come out in opposition to the bill, a stance that would likely influence the congressman’s vote.

A problem with HR 3 is that while Republicans say the bill goes too far, progressive groups contend it doesn't go far enough.

Health Gap, an international advocacy organization that focuses on people with HIV having access to life-saving medicines, says that a major problem with the bill is that it only requires action on a minimum of 25 Medicare medicines a year. "The top 25 drugs in terms of spending account for only 23 percent of Part D drug spending, meaning that 7,975 drugs accounting for 77 percent of Part D funding could go unchecked," the site says.

Among those speaking at the Democratic sponsored press availability on Monday in front of a CVS drug store was 18-year-old Taylor McKenny, a St. Petersburg resident who has Type 1 diabetes. She said that she had read recently that seven college age people like herself died this year because they had been rationing her insulin use do the costs of the medicine.

“They had to decide: Do I pay for my classes? Do I pay to eat? Or do I pay to live? Nobody should ever have to decide whether to pay for food or pay for your own life,” she said. “It really is scary trying to live on my own, trying to become an adult, but having this fear that I may not see 30.”

HR 3 is scheduled to come before the entire House before the end of this week.