Frank Pallone: “The problem we face, or one of the major problems, maybe the most important problem, is one of price, because seniors…”

“The problem we face, or one of the major problems, maybe the most important problem, is one of price, because seniors tell us they cannot afford them. They go to the pharmacy, and they cannot afford the prices. And for the last 6 years, prices of prescription drugs have gone up, in double digits every year. Much higher than inflation in general. The one thing we have to understand... is that they, the Republicans, are determined not to address the price issue. Now, we have not actually seen the Republican proposal... but there have been statements made by Republican colleagues that say that they may actually put in the bill language that says that there can be no effort to control or deal with price in the bill. Now, whether the bill finally has that language or not, I do not know; but you can be sure that it is not going to have any language that would effectively control price.”