“Pharmaceutical companies just bet on the fact that desperate people will find some way to pay for [these drugs],” Ms. Clinton said while speaking in Iowa. “At the same time that this is happening, top pharmaceutical companies are receiving billions of dollars of tax relief every single year and earning billions of dollars in profits.”
Ms. Clinton also spoke out against healthcare insurers. “I think the insurance companies need to be put on notice that they need to help people afford the medical care they need, not make it increasingly expensive and difficult to access,” she said. She also accused insurers of “keeping the savings [from the Affordable Care Act] for themselves.”
To curb the rising cost of prescription drugs, Ms. Clinton promised to give Medicare bargaining power over drug prices. In addition, she proposed a monthly cap of $250 on covered medications.
Her outlined policies have already caused rebuke from pharmaceutical and insurance companies, including Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and America’s Health Insurance Plans, both in Washington, D.C. AHIP said Ms. Clinton’s plan “will not make drug prices more affordable.”
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