Political Quotes

“I extend my congratulations as well to Mr. Barton. It has been a pleasure working with you, sir. Thank you. Also, to Mr. Green, thank you very much for all your service. What an incredible career both of you have had. My colleagues have talked about the underlying bill, and I am in agreement with what everyone has said. I wanted to focus attention on an aspect of the bill that was sponsored by my colleague Kurt Schrader and me, and that is a provision that addresses abusive practices of drug manufacturers who intentionally misrepresent their brand drugs as a generic in order to avoid providing a larger discount to the Medicaid program. My colleagues, whatever our position on the best way to deliver healthcare, one thing we know is the case: It is too expensive. Whether it is taxpayers footing the bill, consumers, or employer-sponsored healthcare plans, it is too expensive. And one of the reasons is rip- off pharma practices. This is a situation where, oftentimes, brand-name drugs try to keep generics off the market. But this is a case where a brand name tried to pretend they were a generic in order to get a lower price. I will give an example. In 2016, Mylan misclassified the EpiPen as a generic drug instead of a brand drug, and that allowed them to charge Medicaid a higher price for the drug.…”