Mr. Doggett is a progressive leader among Democrats, meaning he has the potential to influence other lawmakers on the bill, which is currently one of the House Democrats’ top legislative priorities, according to The Hill.
The letter is addressed to the 129 House Democrats who have co-sponsored Mr. Doggett’s bill, an alternative to Ms. Pelosi’s. In the letter, Mr. Doggett writes that Ms. Pelosi’s plan has merit, but “significant limitations that require improvement.”
A main concern for Mr. Doggett is the minimum number of drug price negotiations allowed, which is 25 in Ms. Pelosi’s bill. Mr. Doggett argues 25 is too few.
He also outlined other items in the bill that he disagreed with, including that only drugs without generic competitors can be negotiated on, as it would exclude drugs like EpiPen. He also said the bill doesn’t address the launch prices of new drugs.
Ms. Pelosi has indicated that she’s open to changing the minimum number of negotiations allowed, but showed concern about the capacity of the HHS secretary to negotiate more drugs and said the most expensive drugs need to be prioritized, according to The Hill.
Mr. Doggett never explicitly said in his letter that he’d vote against the legislation if the requested changes aren’t made.
“My objective is not to let the perfect get in the way of the good, but to ensure that the good we seek actually reaches those whom we serve,” he wrote.
Read the full article here.
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