At N.H. Retirement Community, Sanders Takes on Rising Drug Prices

[Cheese Sandwich]

Sept. 20

EXETER, N.H. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday visited the Riverwoods Retirement Community and highlighted rising prices for prescription drugs and increased poverty among seniors.

“I can tell you that many seniors are struggling,” Sanders told a meeting room filled with about 250 seniors. He cited a Census Bureau report which said 10 percent of seniors in the United States are living in poverty. That’s up from 8.7 percent in 2011.

Rapidly-rising prescription drug prices are among the factors driving up poverty among seniors, Sanders said.

“Today, Americans pay, by far, the highest prices for prescription drugs anywhere in the world,” he said.

Spending on medicine in the United States has gone up by more than 90 percent since 2002. Last year alone, nearly 1 in 5 Americans could not afford to fill a prescription their doctor prescribed.

The senator has introduced legislation to rein in skyrocketing prices.

Sanders recently introduced legislation which would bring down drug costs by authorizing Medicare to use its purchasing power to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of prescription drugs. Not only would this substantially reduce the prices seniors pay for drugs, it could save Medicare more than $500 billion over the next decade.

Sanders’ bill also would allow individuals, pharmacists and wholesalers to import prescription drugs from licensed pharmacies in Canada, where drug prices are 40 percent lower per person than in the U.S.

https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-takes-on-rising-drug-prices/

Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings on Prescription Drug Prices 09/10/15

[restorefreedom]

1. the next headline i expect to see.....

hillary rolls out plan to "fight climbing drug prices." plan will include subsidies to insurers to cover medicines, tax incentives to pharmaceutical companies, and a public private partnership to enhance development of new prescription drugs.

[peacebird]

3. Yes, probably exactly what she would do...

[Cheese Sandwich]

5. LOL

Yes that sounds about right

[liberal_at_heart]

2. When it comes to the issues, no one comes close to Bernie.

[beam me up scottie]

4. He was the first Congressman to bus seniors up to Canada to buy cheaper prescriptions.

Bargain Drug Prices Spark Border Crossings
Health care: U.S. seniors travel to Canada by the busloads for deals. And their doctors are helping them.

Chartered bus trips that began about a year ago in Vermont have inspired imitation in Western border states, even turning into campaign events in two U.S. Senate races this fall. Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton took a busload of elderly drug buyers to Canada and won. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, also a Democrat, did the same but lost. After Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) became the first member of Congress to host a bus trip last year, several of his colleagues followed suit.

As if they were three nations negotiating a trade treaty, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are forming a buying co-op to bring cheaper pharmaceuticals to their elderly residents. Some doctors in U.S. border communities have obtained licenses allowing them to prescribe directly to Canadian pharmacies. In towns such as Calais, Maine, patients simply stroll across a bridge to New Brunswick to buy medication.

...

The drugs are cheaper in Canada because that country's system of socialized medicine tightly controls pharmaceutical costs. U.S. drug prices also are higher because of costly advertising campaigns, government lobbying and research and development expenses. Another factor is the favorable exchange rate for U.S. dollars in Canada that makes items less expensive there.

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/04/news/mn-60970

[Cheese Sandwich]

6. That's the kind of leadership we need

[Mnpaul]

8. Bernie's timing is impeccable

Let him give Shkreli the Greenspan treatment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027190207

[Cheese Sandwich]

9. That would be awesome to see

[liberal_at_heart]

7. hell yeah!