It's hard to imagine why Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is ahead even by just single digits of Democrat Val Demings. The Republican party has no new policies that help their constituents. Even while they scream about migrants crossing the border, they present no solutions.
Rubio, along with Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), came up with a bill to repeal drug pricing provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. That's quite a platform to run on since, for example, 37.3 million Americans—about 1 in 10—have diabetes.
Republicans spent 12 years trying to repeal Obamacare without a viable alternative, so this isn't too shocking.
Lankford is so proud of this bill that he made an announcement on his site. And he quotes Lee.
"Price controls never work. Instead, they exacerbate the problems they seek to resolve. Mandating fixed prescription drug prices will ultimately result in the shortening of American lives. Instead of repeating past mistakes, it's time we address what's driving the cost of prescription medications and adopt a regulatory environment that works to everyone's advantage," Lee said.
How do price controls not work? He left that part out. Also, they present zero alternatives. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Big Pharma has been killing people. For example, getting medication for Hep C would cost $94,500 for a 3-month prescription of pills to be cured. If you're uninsured, you're f*cked. I was one of those people until I could finally get insurance to unf*ck myself. There are a lot of people who have to do without direly needed meds because of the unaffordable prices.
There are countless numbers of medications that are outrageously priced. Maybe Rubio just wants to keep those delicious Big Pharma donations rolling in. Oh, and he's creatively figuring out a way to cut Social Security benefits.
UPDATE: Karine Jean-Pierre blasted them in a statement: "Today, MAGA Congressional Republicans introduced legislation that puts special interests before working families. Their new bill is a giveaway to big pharma at the expense of seniors by ending Medicare’s new ability to negotiate lower drug prices. Their vision for the country is extreme and out of touch with working families across the country."
