For Immediate Release

Contact: Courtney Mattison (202-535-7492)

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), a national consumer and taxpayer group, strongly opposed the proposals for prescription drugs agreed to by congressional Democrats to include in the massive reconciliation package. The deal includes a bevy of price controls that would lead to supply shortages and increased wait times.

In response, TPA President David Williams offered the following statement:

“The American healthcare system has been able to produce some of the most innovative treatments and cures in the world. Government intervention at the scale being described in this latest plan would threaten that innovation for generations to come. As the private sector continues to innovate to lessen the effects of COVID-19, this move is a disaster for the health and well being of Americans.

“Proponents of the plan tout that Medicare will be able to ‘negotiate’ prices with drug makers. But, when one party in a negotiation is the government, the playing field is hardly level. This would end up being a price control without the label. The plan would also prevent price hikes beyond inflation. This would lead drug makers to unnecessarily inflate their prices in the short term to cover any potential future losses.

“Any economically literate American knows that prices are signals of value. If congressional Democrats think something is wrong with the prices, they need to look at the underlying issues. Fixing the high cost of medicine with price controls would be akin to trying to fix your car’s engine by simply turning off the ‘Check Engine’ warning on your dashboard. This is a deeply unserious proposal to address a pressing problem. Policymakers must go back to the drawing board on this one.”

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.