October 17, 2014—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services yesterday what her department is doing to address “staggering increases” in generic drug prices. [ms-protect-content id=”2799″]
“Since we began looking into this issue two weeks ago, we have received more than 1,500 stories from individuals who have been directly affected by rising drug prices,” the lawmakers said in their Oct. 16 letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Rapidly increasing generic drug prices, they added, are putting financial pressure on hospitals and other providers and federal health care programs.
On Oct. 2, Sanders and Cummings sent letters to 14 pharmaceutical manufacturers asking them to explain why the prices of some of their generic drugs have risen so sharply. Their responses are due Oct. 23.
The lawmakers asked Burwell to provide their staff with a previously requested analysis of national average drug acquisition costs data maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “so we can better understand these price increase trends.”
They also asked the HHS secretary “for a description of the authorities the agency possesses to address this issue, and your assessment of whether legislative action may be required.”
Sanders chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging and Cummings is the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. [/ms-protect-content]