Political Quotes

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, Americans deserve a transparent, affordable, and accessible prescription drug market. I agree with the concerns that each of my colleagues have raised here tonight. The current system fails to meet these needs, and I appreciate the intentions of my colleagues in attempting to shed light on the opaque pricing system that we now face. The problem is that the solution proposed in Senate bill 1250 is the wrong solution. If you listened carefully to the debate of my colleagues, their main objection was that the prescription drug companies are advertising and promoting and creating markets for their products. Their solution is to have them tell you what the price is, and what they are asking in their legislation is that the prescription drug manufacturers be required to state their list price. But we all know that the list price is not actually the correct price, and it will actually create confusion even further by forcing these pricing numbers to be put out into the marketplace through commercial advertising in a way that will then, I believe, undercut the major reforms that we are now undertaking in the Finance Committee to get the opaque system eliminated, to shed transparency onto the system, and help all consumers--including the United States Government--to understand what the real price is.…”