Pallone, Neal and Scott Announce Lower Drug Costs Now Act’s Historic Investment in Medicare and Search for New Cures

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2019



Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) and Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) released the following joint statement today announcing the historic investments in Medicare and the search for new cures that will be included in H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act when it goes to the House floor for a vote next week:

“When the House of Representatives takes up the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act next week, Democrats will not only deliver on our promise to lower prices For the People, but we will also make historic investments in Medicare and the search for new cures and treatments.

“Based on guidance from the Congressional Budget Office, we anticipate that H.R. 3 will save approximately $500 billion over the next ten years that we plan to reinvest in the American people.

“Today we are proud to announce that the Lower Drug Costs Now Act will include transformative expansions of Medicare’s benefits to include dental, vision and hearing for the first time in the history of the program. It will also include critical funding to assist innovation in the search for new cures and treatments, as well as funding to combat the opioid crisis.

“These significant investments are made possible as a result of our promise to finally empower the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for the American people. We look forward to following through on our promise next week.”

Summary of H.R. 3’s historic investments can be found here.

Study Finds GOP Bill Will Cause 208K Deaths

Political Wire:
June 28, 2017

“The Congressional Budget Office projects that if the Senate Republicans’ health care bill becomes law, 14 million Americans will lose their health insurance in 2018, and, by 2026, 22 million would lose coverage,” Vox reports.

“Drawing on that work, we estimate that if the Senate bill becomes law, 22,900 excess deaths will occur in 2020 — and the figure will grow over time. 26,500 extra deaths will take place in 2026. Over the next decade, we estimate that a total of 208,500 unnecessary deaths will occur if the law is passed.”

Pallone on Senate Trumpcare CBO Score

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2017



Washington, DC- Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Ranking Member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement today after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its score on the impacts of the Senate Trumpcare bill:

“Today’s CBO report further confirms that the Senate Trumpcare bill is just as devastating as the House bill. The nonpartisan CBO confirms that the Senate bill will rip healthcare away from 22 million people, undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increase the costs of premiums and deductibles for working families. CBO also confirms that this heartless bill would cut $772 billion from Medicaid, stripping healthcare from millions of Americans and rationing care for seniors in nursing homes, pregnant women and children.

“Cosmetic changes will not change the fact that Trumpcare showers massive tax breaks on the wealthiest Americans while forcing millions of hardworking Americans to pay more for health insurance for significantly less care. This CBO score should serve as a wake-up call to wavering Senate Republicans that millions of Americans will suffer and some will lose their lives if this mean-spirited proposal becomes law.”

Pallone & Neal Statement on CBO Report for House GOP Health Care Repeal Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2017


Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) released the following joint statement today after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report detailing cost and coverage estimates for House Republicans’ health care repeal bill:

“Today’s CBO report now confirms what we already knew: despite promises that ‘everyone would be covered’ and ‘no one would be worse off,’ this Republican bill would rip away health insurance from 24 million Americans over the next decade and ask millions to pay more for less coverage. Despite warnings from independent experts like CBO and others, Republicans continue to recklessly jam this bill through Congress without so much as a single hearing on what effects their plan will have on middle-class families. This report also reaffirms that the Republican plan does absolutely nothing to control costs or protect consumers. Instead, it guts Medicaid, raises costs on older Americans, and pulls billions of dollars from Medicare, all in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

“This is a major step backwards for millions of Americans who now enjoy the benefits and protections of quality health insurance gained under the Affordable Care Act. We strongly urge Republicans to back off their politically-motivated march to sabotage our health care system and instead work with Democrats to strengthen it.”

Background

President Donald J. Trump: “Everybody's got to be covered…I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now…But we're going to save so much money on the other side. But for the most it's going to be a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything.” [CBS News, September 27, 2015]

President Donald J. Trump: “Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts, have to do it. Get rid of the fraud, get rid of the waste and abuse, but save it.” [June 16, 2015]

House Speaker Paul Ryan: The Republican healthcare plan will leave “no one worse off.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 5, 2016]

House Speaker Paul Ryan: When asked why the Republican plan would “send more money to the people who have gotten the richest”, Ryan responded “I am not concerned about it.”[Fox News, March 9, 2017]

HHS Secretary Tom Price: “Nobody will be worse off financially” under Republican bill. [Meet the Press, March 12, 2017]

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney: “We’re looking at it in a different way, Mark, because insurance is not really the end goal here, is it?” [Morning Joe, March 8, 2017]