Rick Scott can take a victory lap if he includes provisions lowering drug prices in upcoming spending package 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Every day, many of us in Florida have to decide if we’re going to buy the medication we need or if we’re going to put food on the table. Today, the financial burden we encounter at the pharmacy is too bitter a pill to even swallow. 

Last year, we saw Congress take a first step to lowering prescription drug prices but further action is necessary. Not only is more action from Congress essential but lowering prescription drug prices is a winning issue with Florida voters.

Nearly 80 percent of voters, spanning across party lines, support such reforms including 75 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of Independents.

It’s a fact that older Americans are a winning voting bloc, and with that same group needing prescription drugs to live a full and healthy life, lowering prescription drug prices is an electoral no-brainer. 

The sky-high prescription drug price crisis has been escalating for years. Throughout the country, prescription drug prices have continued to be hiked twice a year by “Big Pharma.”

The U.S. spent nearly $350 billion on prescription drugs in 2020, almost three times more than 20 years ago. In Florida, prescription drug prices increased on average by more than 25 percent between 2015 and 2019, while Floridians’ income only increased by 13 percent. 

A significant contributing factor to this problem is the increasing anti-competitive tactics employed by Big Pharma. When pharmaceutical companies develop a new treatment, they’re granted a period of time, usually around 20 years, that allows them to exclusively sell the drug.

After that window ends, competitors are then allowed to produce and sell lower-cost generic and biosimilar versions that are just as effective as the original product but are typically more affordable for patients.

Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies have become so adept at exploiting the market that they’ve found a way to game the patent and regulatory systems.

They employ tactics such as making minor tweaks to drug formulations to secure new patents, paying off competitors to delay the introduction of generic options, or amassing an excessive number of patents to extend their market monopoly period.

These anti-capitalistic tactics are a major driver of the high prices Floridians pay for life-saving drugs at the pharmacy.

The only meaningful, long-term solution is a bipartisan effort in Congress to curb these anti-competitive practices and bring long-awaited relief to patients.

Currently, there are multiple bipartisan bills in the U.S. Senate to crack down on drug industry price gouging and abuses of the patent system. That’s why I’m glad we have Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott in Washington, D.C. fighting for us. 

Scott has always demonstrated his willingness to work across party lines to tackle the significant challenges that affect Floridians and to stop anti-capitalistic practices.

I know that I speak for all Floridians when I say he would be rewarded back at home if he were to work with his colleagues to get these initiatives over the finish line and lower prescription drug prices for patients across the country. 

For far too long, pharmaceutical companies have exploited the system for their own financial gain at the expense of regular Floridians like you and me. Scott has consistently prioritized Florida over partisanship, and I trust he’ll use his power and influence to reduce costs for us all.