Stand Up to Big Pharma Greed. Vote Yes on Proposition 61

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Monday, October 24, 2016
by The Los Angeles Times

Stand Up to Big Pharma Greed. Vote Yes on Proposition 61


by Bernie Sanders



Prescription drug prices in the United States are the highest in the world — by far. Californians on Nov. 8 have a chance to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry’s greed and spark a national movement to end this price-gouging.

Today, no laws prevent drug companies from doubling or tripling prices. So they just do it. The most recent flagrant example is the emergency allergy injection, EpiPen. Its maker, Mylan, jacked up the price of this 40-year-old medication by 461% between 2007 and 2015. During that same period, compensation for Mylan’s CEO rose 671%. And that’s just one company and one drug.

Proposition 61, the California Drug Price Relief Act, would bar the state from paying more than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does for the same drugs. That would include medicine purchased for state employees and retirees, university students, prison inmates, uninsured people with HIV/AIDS and Californians covered by the public insurance program Medi-Cal.

The VA pays an estimated 24% less for drugs than most government agencies and about 40% less than Medicare Part D. Those are significant savings. In California, Proposition 61 would make drugs more affordable and accessible for about 6 million people.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/10/24/stand-big-pharma-greed-vote-yes-proposition-61

[stuffmatters]

1. After seeing Merck & Pfizer sponsoring relentless ads against, I knew to vote for prop 61

Bernie just conforms it. The fearmongering, saturation ads PHARMA has been running ag Prop 61 are realy evil...claiming Vets will pay more for their meds and that, essentially, prisoners are the only ones who will benefit!

Big PHARMA is really, really worried this first step towards price controlling them could pass. I think Ca's Prop 61 and Oregon's Prop on taxing gross sales of large corps (over 25 million in sales) are really important attempts to reign in big Pharma pricing run amok and
multinational corps egregious dodging taxes both state and federal.