The Medicare Rx Drug 2000 Act. This legislation fails to provide a universal, affordable Medicare prescription medicine benefit and allows the drug industry to continue price-gouging American consumers. The bill does nothing for the many consumers in desperate need of relief from the high costs of prescription drugs. This legislation will not do what consumers need a prescription drug bill to do- provide universal, affordable and accessible prescription drug coverage.
Drug companies charge American consumers the highest prices in the world.
Large buyers of prescription drugs like HMOs, hospitals, and the federal government use their buying power as leverage to negotiate lower prices. But people who pay for their own prescription drugs are paying more than they can afford and much more than they should pay. While drug industry pricing strategies have boosted the industry's profits to extraordinary levels, consumers are being forced to choose between paying their drug costs, taking their full-prescribed prescription, and paying for food and electricity. H.R. 4680 will not help consumers afford the prescription drugs they need. H.R. 4680 does not offer a concrete benefit, but rather relies on private insurance companies to offer a prescription drug only plan that they have already discounted as unaffordable and impractical due to the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs in the United States.