a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts

8 years ago, we suffered through the worst financial crisis in generations. Millions of people lost their homes, their jobs, and their savings. Although the economy has improved under President Obama's leadership, many of those families…

I want to start by thanking Senator Heitkamp for pulling us in here today to talk about this emergency and Senator Murray for her strong voice on this and many others who will be speaking out today. In 2014 Ebola broke out in West Africa…

Do not tell me you do not look at it as an investment, because if it costs you money to double the price of a drug and then offer a patient assistance program, you would not be doing it.

These programs are illegal because Medicare and Medicaid understand that the programs are scams to hide the true cost of the products from the consumers and drive up the cost for all of the taxpayers.

A drug used to cost $1,000, and you doubled the price of the drug to $2,000.

A greedy mentality of identifying companies that can be acquired simply by where you can get away with raising prices by the largest percentage possible has real public policy and health care ramifications.

This hearing is not about demonizing capitalists or destroying free markets.

The notion that we can sit idly by while smart people on Wall Street can do ledger entries to create another layer of profit in the health care sector to benefit multimillionaires on the backs of patients, and ultimately taxpayers, cannot…

If I am following the math right on this, you double the price even if you manage to give a waiver to the customer, you are still making a lot more money on this.

I think the discussion raises an even more important question about patient assistance programs and the copay coupons.

Congress should be doing more to address these high drug prices, and we need to be doing it now.