DETROIT–Yesterday, Congressman Andy Levin held Donald Trump accountable for his broken promises on lowering prescription drug prices during a conference call hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party. On the call, Levin highlighted his own health care story, his bipartisan STOP GAMES Act to lower drug prices, and Trump’s repeated efforts to strip health care from Michiganders, including his failure to lower drug prices.
LISTEN TO CONGRESSMAN LEVIN’S REMARKS HERE
Key Points from Congressman Andy Levin:
- “President Trump made a lot of promises about tackling the problem of prescription drug costs in our country and I don’t feel like he’s done anything about it.”
- “It’s so important to the people of Michigan. We have 4.1 million people with pre-existing conditions. We have 720,000 people who could lose their health insurance as a result of President Trump’s lawsuit in Texas.”
- “We’re working hard on this, the president has done nothing. He has not proposed anything serious or moved anything, but we’re going to keep pushing ahead. We’re not going to stop trying through the whole 116th Congress.”
Background on Trump’s Broken Promises on Prescription Drugs
Promise: “Republicans want to create better health care through more choice, lower drug prices — and you will see, very soon, drug prices will go plunging downward. You wait, you watch. It’s all in motion. And we’ve created much more competition.” [Trump Remarks At A Make America Great Again Rally, Mosinee WI, 10/24/18]
Reality: “Nationally, spending on drugs has continued to climb, even if that growth has slowed. There is also no evidence to support the argument that Trump himself is responsible for changes in drug pricing.” [PolitiFact, 5/22/19]
Promise: “The Washington Examiner quotes him as saying: ‘Because the drug companies have an unbelievable lobby. And these guys that run for office, that are on my left and right and plenty of others, they’re all taken care of by the drug companies. And they’re never going to put out competitive bidding. So I said to myself wow, let me do some numbers. If we competitively bid, drugs in the United States, we can save as much as $300 billion a year.’” [Fortune, 2/12/16]
Reality: “Mr. Trump’s plan, however, is a break from what he promised on the campaign trail. It does not authorize the government to use its huge purchasing power to obtain lower prices by negotiating directly with drug manufacturers. Nor does it expand the ability of American consumers to import low-cost prescriptions from abroad.” [New York Times, 5/11/18]
