Wyden Delivers Remarks and Asks Unanimous Consent to Pass the Bipartisan Health Care Act
As Prepared for Delivery
Watch a video of Wyden deliver his remarks here
I come to the Senate floor today to pass a set of critical improvements to America’s health care system. This legislation is overwhelmingly bipartisan, fully paid for, and targeted at two objectives every Senator should support: improving health care for Americans and cracking down on middlemen who are taking advantage of the system.
Five hundred and ninety-seven days ago, the Senate Finance Committee passed the most comprehensive legislation in history to address Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ predatory business practices, by a vote of 26 to 1.
Four hundred and ninety-three days ago, the Senate Finance Committee passed another piece of health care legislation that improves mental health care for Americans with Medicaid, expands and strengthens telehealth, and more PBM policies, by a vote of 26 to zero.
Since that time, negotiations about how to sign these policies into law have been fatally intertwined with the dysfunctional debate over congressional appropriations, as the public can see on full display this week. These policies are too important to leave behind due to an unrelated disagreement. Community pharmacists are counting on this legislation. Doctors who don’t want to see a pay cut are counting on this legislation. Seniors and working families who want better care at a lower cost are counting on this legislation.
So, the time to act is now. In December, Democrats and Republicans struck a deal on this very bill. I have the press release on my website to prove it. It was introduced in the House and set for passage. But along came Elon Musk and his now-familiar wrecking ball. With one tweet, he killed the entire package for reasons that had nothing to do with the bill before the Senate today. Musk even had the gall to tweet “what is a ‘pharmacy benefit manager’?” less than two weeks after he single-handedly killed the bill, M. President. While this unelected billionaire rifles through Americans’ private information and earned benefits, claiming to be looking for waste, fraud, and abuse, he doesn’t even know about the middlemen skimming billions off the federal government. Since Musk’s tweeting adventure, 237 independent pharmacies have closed their doors. That’s nearly three small businesses closing every day. Our bill includes critical protections that stop the giant PBMs from bullying even more local pharmacies into the abyss.
Every day matters. That’s why it’s critical to act now. Now I’d like to yield to the Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Sanders, so he can explain the important pieces of this bill in his committee’s jurisdiction that need to pass as soon as possible.
###
Previous Article