Mary Gay Scanlon: “Every day I hear from constituents who are going broke trying to pay for their prescriptions, and more often than not…”

“Every day I hear from constituents who are going broke trying to pay for their prescriptions, and more often than not they are seniors--seniors like Cheryl, who often has to decide whether to forgo one of her monthly medications or to pay a $600 pharmacy bill. Stories like Cheryl's are becoming both all too common and unacceptable. We are committed to lowering the cost of prescription drugs so that Americans can afford their lifesaving medications. That is why I have introduced legislation to eliminate some of the barriers that seniors and people with disabilities have to getting the medications they need. The Better Tools to Lower Costs Act, which has been included in H.R. 3, would eliminate the asset requirement for CMS's Extra Help program. As a result, low-income Medicare recipients with modest retirement savings or a small rainy-day fund would get help to pay for deductibles, premiums, and copays. Families should not have to drain their life savings or sell their homes to afford lifesaving medication. Commonsense solutions like this and others in H.R. 3 will address the prescription drug crisis, and I look forward to voting for it. ____________________”