Sen. Franken Fights to Keep Health Care Costs in Check for Minnesota Families

As Republicans Prepare to Jeopardize Health Insurance for 20 Million Americans, Sen. Franken Makes a Push to Lower Drug Prices, Protect Rural Health Care, and Save a Successful Consumer Protection Measure He Wrote

As Republican lawmakers gear up to gut the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with no realistic replacement plan--a move that would pull the rug out from 20 million Americans who gained health coverage through the ACA--Sen. Al Franken is fighting for several legislative priorities of his that would help preserve and improve the law.

On Wednesday, the Senate will be voting on a resolution to begin the ACA repeal process--but before that can happen, Democratic lawmakers will be offering up amendments to build on the law and also protect it from being stripped down to nothing.

Sen. Franken plans to introduce several amendments he wrote, including two to address skyrocketing drug prices, one to support America's rural health care workforce, and another to protect his "Medical Loss Ratio," which is a consumer protection measure he wrote into the ACA that has already put billions of rebate dollars back into the pockets of families across the country.

"Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, 20 million Americans have gained health insurance, insurers can't discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, women are no longer charged more than men for coverage, we eliminated annual and lifetime caps so if you get sick you won't be kicked off your insurance plan, and young people can stay on their parents' plans till age 26. These policies have improved the lives of children, moms, dads, grandparents, and people from all walks of life."

"And while there are problems with the ACA, I believe we can and should be working to amend, build on, and improve the law--not rip it up like the Republicans want to. I'm introducing these amendments because they would both protect some of what's already in the ACA--like my 'Medical Loss Ratio' provision--and strengthen the law to help more families."

The amendments Sen. Franken introduced today include:

Accelerating Generic Drug Competition. This amendment seeks to end anticompetitive "pay-for-delay" schemes. Pay-for-delay settlements, also called reverse payment settlements agreements, cost consumers and taxpayers billions of dollars when generic companies agree not to market or delay marketing a generic competitor in exchange for payment by the brand name company. This amendment would rescind the 180-day exclusivity period awarded to the first company to file a generic drug application if the company were to enter into a pay-for-delay agreement.

Unfair Tax Breaks to Drug Companies. This amendment would eliminate the tax subsidies prescription drug corporations receive from the federal government for expenses related to direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs. Senator Franken's amendment would end these unfair tax breaks so pharmaceutical companies can focus their dollars on developing new drugs, not excessive marketing schemes that increase Americans' prescription drug costs. The American Medical Association has endorsed Senator Franken's standalone legislation to eliminate this tax deduction.

Protecting the Rural Health Workforce. This amendment would support doctors, nurses, and other health care providers in rural communities, and protect vital workforce development programs, including the National Health Service Corps, that were passed as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Medical Loss Ratio. This amendment limits insurance company profits and requires insurance companies to use premium dollars to pay for actual health care costs. Under current law, consumers get more value out of their health insurance because the medical loss ratio requires insurance companies to use at least 80 percent of the money they receive from enrollees' premium payments to fund claims and/or quality improvement measures benefiting consumers rather than company profits and corporate bonuses. Companies that fail to provide this level of value have to rebate the difference back to consumers. Senator Franken championed the provision in the Affordable Care Act known as the 80/20 rule, or the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), which, since being passed into law, has put billions of dollars in the form of rebates back into the pockets of Americans.

Read this original document at: https://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=3598