Political Quotes

“This amendment fulfills a simple objective. It helps consumers decide for themselves whether prescription drug prices are fair. As it stands now, consumers know what they pay to a pharmacy for a drug, but they do not know what the manufacturer charges for that drug, what the manufacturer charges other consumers for it, what the manufacturer charges other countries for it, what similar drugs cost. My colleagues get the idea. This amendment would require manufacturers to disclose to American consumers the prices they charge here versus what they charge in other industrialized nations. The pharmaceutical industries question the accuracy of studies comparing prescription drug prices in the U.S. to those in other industrialized countries. They have questioned the accuracy of studies comparing the price seniors pay to those paid by HMOs. Drug makers could put these disputes to rest simply by disclosing their prices. Two weeks ago, I took a dozen seniors from Ohio to a Canadian pharmacy where they paid one-half, one-third, one-sixth of what it would have cost to purchase those same drugs in northeast Ohio.”