Statement from Margarida Jorge, campaign director for Lower Drug Prices Now, on the House’s passage of the American Rescue Plan:

The American Rescue Plan will expand access to Medicaid and make healthcare affordable for millions of people across the country, while simultaneously beginning to rein in Big Pharma’s price gouging. We will be watching to make sure that the Medicaid Rebate Cap provision will ultimately be implemented in 2024 rather than falling prey to Big Pharma lobbyists. Democrats have committed to put people before Big Pharma profits, and we’ll hold them to that.

There is significantly more that can and must be done to rein in price gouging by Big Pharma. The pandemic has left even more families — particularly Black, Latinx, and Indigenous families — forced to choose between putting food on the table and buying medicine. Congress and the Biden Administration must include in the next reconciliation package an improved and expanded version of HR 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, in order to finally make all medicines affordable for everyone in the country who needs them.

Action by Congress to end Big Pharma’s monopoly control over pricing is popular, long overdue, and urgently needed. With control of the White House and Congress, it’s time for Democrats to keep their promises and get serious about lowering prescription drug prices.