December 4, 2019

A new report issued this week by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) provides a startling snapshot of the dangers to Americans’ health and life expectancy posed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s prescription price control bill, H.R. 3.

Pelosi’s proposed legislation gives the federal government effective control to set prices of prescription drugs, beginning with Medicare Part D, which would lead to the loss of billions of dollars of revenue for drug companies and bio-tech firms to invest into critical research for new cures and treatments. The report estimates Pelosi’s plan will prevent up to 100 new life-saving drugs from being developed and entering the market for patients.

Most troubling, the CEA forecasts that by blocking the development of the miracle cures and treatments of tomorrow, Pelosi’s bill will trigger a decline in the average American’s life expectancy by up to four months, a shocking impact for a proposal that is intended to improve healthcare.

The CEA report brought a sharp response from Gerard Scimeca, the co-founder and Vice President of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE). “What people should be talking about is that Pelosi’s bill is the healthcare equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day for over a year. Last I checked, the medical community tabbed cigarettes a healthcare scourge that led to disease and early death for millions. How is Pelosi’s plan that takes critical medications out of reach of American patients any different?”

Scientists have widely recognized that in the aggregate each cigarette smoked reduces the smoker’s life expectancy by 11 minutes, or over 7 hours per day for two packs. In terms of impact on Americans’ life expectancy Pelosi’s life-shortening proposal is the comparative equivalent of 13 months of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes per day.

“The CEA report points out that by killing medical innovation and preventing new cures from ever seeing the light of day, Pelosi’s bill will actually increase the nation’s healthcare expenditures by up to $1 trillion per year, which is 10 times the amount her proposal aims to save in the short term. Her plan once again proves that more government isn’t the answer to better medicine, or prescription drug cost savings.

“It is sad and tragic that some in Washington are rallying around a bill that will bust our budget and literally shorten our lives. Pelosi’s plan should come with a Surgeon General’s warning informing Americans that it is hazardous to their health. It’s carcinogenic legislation that should go up in smoke.”