Gallego supports bill capping prices for medications

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, announced his support this week for a bill aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.

The Capping Prescription Costs Act attempts to put a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families with health insurance.

If this bill became a law, the Affordable Care Act, Public Health Service Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Internal Revenue Code would need to comply with these caps.

Insurers and group health plans would not be permitted to implement prescription drug cost-sharing above these caps, according to the bill.

Inflation adjustments would start annually in 2027.

Regarding this bill, Gallego said nobody "should have to choose between putting food on the table and filling a prescription."

"Too many Arizonans" have to "skip doses, cut pills in half or make impossible financial decisions that risk their health because medication is just too expensive," the senator said.

"I'm proud to support this bill to put a cap on out-of-pocket costs and make lifesaving medicine more affordable for every family," he explained.

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, said no American should need to "negotiate against themselves when choosing between the medications they need to be healthy and food they need to survive."

Horsford introduced the House companion of this bill, while Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, introduced the Senate's version.

The Nevada representative said this legislation would "help Americans with private insurance save on needed prescriptions each year."

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year, 60% of adults take at least one prescription medication. Another 25% take four or more. The poll also found almost 30% of Americans are not taking prescriptions as recommended due to the cost.

In May, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to lower prescription drug costs for Americans. This EO tries to get drug prices for Americans down to the levels other countries pay.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as of 2022, Americans pay almost three times as much as other countries for brand and generic prescription drugs. Last month, the White House issued a fact sheet that said almost 75% of "global pharmaceutical profits come from American taxpayers."

Proposals to lower drug prices would benefit low-income and elderly populations, according to a 2025 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

However, it would reduce pharmaceutical companies' spending on research and development of drugs "dramatically."

As an alternative, this study said if a single international price is set across "the highest income" countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which has 38 member countries, and if pharmaceutical companies' "profits were fixed," then American drug prices would fall by half. In this scenario, the drug prices in other countries would increase by more than 300%.

Additionally, if this were to happen, pharmaceutical companies would be able to maintain their research and development incentives, the study suggested.