Hillary Clinton announced a set of policy proposals on Tuesday aimed at addressing skyrocketing prescription-drug costs.
Clinton’s policy proposal addresses the issue on multiple fronts, although it is particularly aggressive in its focus on pharmaceutical companies. Specific policies include requiring drug companies to redirect funds from marketing to research, encouraging the development of generics to increase competition for prescription drugs, allowing Americans to import drugs from abroad, demanding higher rebates for prescription drugs through Medicare, and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug and biologic prices.
Clinton’s plan also would cap monthly and annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. Several states have implemented similar policies, which insurers have said avoids lowering the true costs of drugs and causes them to unfairly pick up the tab. (While states have introduced drug-pricing transparency laws, none have been signed into law.)
Notably, Clinton’s plan does not require drug companies to disclose pricing information, a popular policy proposal that is included in legislation recently introduced by presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Still, Clinton’s plans far exceed most of her Washington colleagues’ efforts to rein in costs and go beyond what has been accomplished at the state level.