Rep. Schakowsky Slams Trump for Sabotaging Seniors' Health Care With a Prescription Drug Pricing Stunt

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 -- Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, issued the following news release:

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Senior Chief Deputy Whip, Chair of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, and Co-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families, released this statement after President Trump said he would mail seniors a one-time $200 prescription drug discount card, raiding the Medicare Trust Fund after failing to take any action to actually lower prescription drug prices:

"Seniors are smart enough to know that the President has been no friend of theirs. He has spent over three years allowing Big Pharma to price gouge them. His Administration and their enablers are at the Supreme Court trying to destroy the ACA and strip away lower prescription drugs costs for every Medicare beneficiary. And now, he wants to raid almost $7 billion from the Medicare Trust Fund in order to send out toothless 'Trump Cards' that might not even cover a senior's prescription drugs for a single month! Older Americans don't need stunts--they need President Trump to end his health care sabotage and stop Big Pharma from price gouging.

"Even the drug companies saw this as a campaign ploy and refused to participate. If President Trump wants to actually help seniors and not play politics, he could start by supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which the House passed in December 2019 to allow the U.S. to negotiate prescription drug prices and finally offer critical hearing, dental, and vision coverage to our Older Americans with the savings.

"After that, President Trump could stop drug companies from raking in record profits off billions of taxpayer dollars by supporting H.R. 7296, my Make Medications Affordable to Prevent Pandemic Profiteering (MMAPPP) Act. The Trump Administration has gifted $10 billion in taxpayer funding to drug companies to develop a COVID-19 vaccine without getting any pricing guarantees in return. There is no reason that drug companies should be able to use monopoly power to charge whatever they want on a vaccine--or any drug--developed by taxpayer dollars."