On the recordDecember 11, 2019
I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank Chairman Scott for his leadership on this bill. This bill is named after the late Congressman Elijah Cummings for his great work fighting for affordable healthcare and prescription drugs. He fought for people like a constituent of mine who wrote to me regarding the absurdly high cost of insulin. He explained in this letter that his brother had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which requires him to take an insulin injection four times a day. My colleagues are probably familiar with that, people they know. A single bottle of insulin costs $400. He tells me that some people skip needles. Others let themselves stay at harmful blood sugar levels so that they can make their insulin last longer. Madam Chair, no one should have to suffer this indignity, especially when in many places around the world, insulin is as low as $8. With H.R. 3, Medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices for seniors and beneficiaries, and our constituents won't be plagued by such high costs for such a common drug. {time} 2045 And thanks to this bill, the NIH will have more resources to encourage more research and more experimentation. The savings can be used for large projects and for new pilot initiatives to assist the development of new cures and treatments, and this can really be groundbreaking for all of us.…
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