Prescription prices in the U.S. are, on average, four times as expensive as in other countries, and some — like insulin, needed by many in this country to survive — are ten times as expensive. H.R. 3 — which the House approved over “no” votes from most Republicans, including McClintock — would lower prices to “120% of the average price in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom” or, if that information isn’t available, 85% of the current U.S. price for insulin products and other prescription drugs sold heavily in the U.S. This is badly needed legislation. The U.S. market buys only one-third of the prescription drugs that these companies sell, but provides 70% of their profit. We are subsidizing lower prices in other countries. People are dying, or suffering egregious injuries, because they cannot afford basic medicine. Insulin was discovered nearly 100 years ago, in 1921, yet it is so expensive that many diabetics are forced to ration whatever they can afford to make it last until their next payday.
McClintock sided with pharmaceutical companies and voted “no.” His press release parroted those companies’ talking points, claiming that they won’t be able to afford research if the U.S. limits their profits. This is ridiculous. As the article referenced below explains, pharmaceutical companies spend only 17% of their revenue on research and development. “They spend vastly larger sums advertising and cultivating doctors to promote often unnecessary use of drugs — for example, the overuse of antidepressants,” the author points out. And, of course, stockholders have been getting healthy payouts for years. We pay the price and the wealthy benefit. As usual.
California’s 4th District deserves better. We deserve a representative who sees our challenges with clear eyes and takes meaningful action to fix them. We deserve a representative who truly cares about what happens in this District. We deserve a representative who will fight for us.
Join us, as we fight to send Tom McClintock back to his own District, and to finally stop him from selling us out, one vote at a time.
Because we know, as Margaret Mead said, that “a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
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