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Josh Hawley’s bills, called the Fair Prescription Drug Prices for
Americans Act and the Ending the Prescription Drug Kickback Act
of 2023 respectively, establishes a penalty for pharmaceutical
companies that sell drugs in the United States at prices beyond their
average costs across the peers of the United States in the Group of
Seven major industrial countries. Additionally, the bills will
collectively ban prescription drug rebates in both federal and
private health plans.
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The first bill says the retail list prices for drugs sold in the U.S. may
not exceed the average costs they are sold for across Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Severe
fines would be levied against drugmakers who cross this established
threshold.
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The second bill would remove safe harbor protections for
prescription drug rebates that drug manufacturers and pharmacy
benefit managers (known as PBMs) now have under a federal
anti-kickback statute.
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Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo, states: “My view — and I’ve had this view for
years now — is that American patients should not be bearing the cost of
cheap drugs everywhere else in the world,” Hawley said in an interview.
“And these pharma companies shouldn’t be able to make massive profits
off the back of Americans who desperately need many of these drugs and
products in order to live… So, my pitch to my fellow Republicans is listen, we
need to be for people, not for pharma,” he said. “We need to be about
helping patients be able to get affordable prices. And I have no interest in
helping pharma further fleece these consumers to line their own pockets.
And by the same token, I don’t have any interest in helping the big
insurance companies keep their sweetheart deals with pharma, where
they get these kickbacks for negotiating cheaper drug prices … and then
passing on higher prices to consumers," he continued. "I think we should
end that, too.”
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