“The 25,000 physicians and medical students applaud the House for its passage of H.R. 3, a bill that takes prudent and necessary measures toward ensuring that, for our patients, exorbitant costs will no longer be a roadblock between them and accessibility to the medications that improve and save their lives.
The medical society has longstanding policy that aligns with a critical component of this bill – Medicare should be permitted to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. That organizational policy is born of our ardent belief that such negotiations will reduce both drug prices and out-of-pocket costs to our patients.
As physicians, it is at once heartbreaking and infuriating when a patient – especially those with a chronic condition - is unable to comply with our recommendations for care because a prescription doesn’t fit the budget. The reality is stark and inequitable. Our patients are dying because they cannot afford drugs like insulin or those that control asthma. We are grateful to the advocates, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation and all legislators who have worked on this policy. This is a monumental victory for our patients, who have an absolute right to obtain the highest attainable standard of health.”
