WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Rep. Jared Golden is spearheading a bill he says will stop drug companies from unfairly hiking prices.
The freshman Democrat introduced the FLAT Prices plan Wednesday, Feb. 13. which would penalize pharmaceutical companies that "harm consumers with sudden, exorbitant price increases."
The bill considers a price increase of more than 10 percent within one year,18 percent within two, or 25 within three years as unfair.
Drug companies would also be required to report price spikes to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Golden's office says prices for certain diabetes, cancer and stroke medication rose between 25 and 40 percent last year.
The bill would also limit monopoly periods to encourage more competition from generic drug providers.
“For years, Big Pharma has reaped record profits by jacking up the prices of drugs and squeezing every last cent out of regular folks who need their medicine to lead healthy lives," said Congressman Golden.
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Golden says rising prescription drug costs are the biggest driver of overall healthcare costs across the country.
In December 2018, the Maine Health Data Organization released new statistics on the 25 drugs that saw the highest annual price increase of almost 35 percent between 2016 and 2017.
Golden’s legislation targets the sort of corporate abuse made famous by Mylan’s nearly 600 percent increase on EpiPens and Turing Pharmaceuticals’ 5,000 percent increase on anti-parasitic drug Daraprim.
Representatives Sean Casten (IL-06), Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), Gil Cisneros (CA-39), and Max Rose (NY-11) cosponsored Golden’s bill, the Forcing Limits on Abusive and Tumultuous (FLAT) Prices Act.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.