March 22, 2023
Manchin Questions HHS Secretary on Medical Supply Chain, Legislation to Combat the Drug Epidemic, Reducing Drug Prices
Washington,
DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, questioned Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, on bolstering the medical supply
chain, the implementation timeline for the Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy
Act, the importance of supporting the Life Budgeting for Opioid
Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act and reducing drug prices.
On
bolstering the medical supply chain:
“Our
supply chain cannot be caught off guard again, especially for life-saving,
essential medication. I was pleased to see your Department establish offices
under the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness to help build out United States
manufacturing and invest in long-term capabilities to better respond to
emerging biological threats. Your budget request is $400 million to bolster the
medical supply chain, but there has been about $10 billion approved before
that. Can you tell me if there’s any money left from that, or how else the $400
million will be spent?” Senator Manchin questioned.
On
implementing the Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy Act (Legacy Act):
“Senator
Capito and I are on the Protecting Jessica Grubb’s Legacy Act and we
passed this bill quite some time ago in the CARES Act in 2020. I was
pleased to see the Department issue proposed regulations last fall. What is the
Department's timeline to implement the final rule of the Legacy Act, to
honor this young girl who lost her life to a drug overdose?”
On
the importance of passing the Life Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment
(LifeBOAT) Act:
“Over
the past 10 years, we’ve lost more Americans to drug overdoses than we have in
any wars we’ve ever fought, all combined. With that being said, and with the
debt we have, it’s time to take a realistic approach. The LifeBOAT Act
simply says this: a penny per milligram for all manufacturers. If you think you
need to put this much product in the market, then at least pay something so we
can get people cured. Every penny of this would go towards treatment centers,
and treatment centers could be in every part of the country… Would you all be
able to support this?”
On
allowing Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to set high drug prices:
“The
way they are able to control and classify drugs to the highest prices because
they get a better rebate – how do we allow this to happen? How do we stop it?” Senator
Manchin continued. “The Inflation Reduction Act allowed us to save
money by negotiating on certain drug prices and that money is helping bring
down prices…How much quicker could we do this?”
A
video of Senator Manchin’s questioning can be found here.
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