AARP Delaware is speaking out about the need to lower prescription drug prices.
AARP Delaware is calling on Congress to address pricing by big drug companies - expressing concern over gouging that harms seniors.
AARP Delaware associate state director Shelia Grant says the best way to fix health care is to lower costs, starting with drug costs, “This is something we’ve been talking about for years. But it’s important right now because the effort in Congress to lower drug prices has stalled; that doesn’t mean the issue has gone away. People are still very concerned about it. And Delawareans are really tired of paying drug prices three times higher than the rest of the world.”
Grant says many - including AARP Delaware - feel big pharma is making billions while seniors and other taxpayers are getting ripped off.
She adds that people shouldn’t have to choose between paying for their medicine and paying their rent or mortgage.
Grant says many Delawareans - especially seniors - depend on their prescriptions and she argues that drug companies’ skyrocketing prices are pushing critical medications out of reach for those who need them, “We did a survey in 2021 of registered voters aged 50 and older and nearly ⅕ said they had not filled a doctor’s prescription in the past two years. And the most common reason for that, was that they couldn’t pay for it - which is really heartbreaking when you think about it. There’s broad support for this among voters; 87% of voters support allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for prescription drugs.”
Grant says other countries and the VA negotiate prices - and it works to bring them down.
She calls this a historic opportunity for Congress to pass a bill to address this issue - and if lawmakers don’t, voters will remember it as a broken promise when this fall’s midterm election rolls around.
Earlier this week, AARP Delaware delivered a petition with 20,843 signatures to Senators Carper and Coons, expressing support from Delawareans for Congress to lower prescription drug prices.
