Coalition Against Socialized Medicine Statement on H.R. 3, International Drug Price-Setting Legislation

ALEXANDRIA, VA, April 23, 2021 – The Coalition Against Socialized Medicine (CASM), a broad coalition of leading conservative and free-market groups including the American Conservative Union, Heritage Action, FreedomWorks, the National Taxpayers Union, Club for Growth, Citizens Against Government Waste, American Commitment, and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, issued the following statement on the introduction of H.R. 3, the “Lower Drug Costs Now Act” attributable to Dan Schneider, Executive Director of The American Conservative Union: 

“The so-called Lower Drug Costs Now Act is a wolf in sheep’s clothing that would allow foreign bureaucrats to set prices for American patients. It would restrict access to life-saving treatments and stifle the innovation that brings the treatments and life-saving cures of tomorrow. 

There is clear evidence that price-setting in countries with socialized health care has severely limited the access that people have to innovative new medicines. In fact, while Americans enjoy access to 90 percent of the world’s newest therapies made available in the past ten years, those in Japan and Canada have access to just half of these discoveries – a dire warning of what would await American patients if we were to adopt similar misguided policies. 

In fact, a study by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) estimated that such price-setting schemes could lead to more than 100 fewer treatments over the next decade and cut Americans’ life expectancy by four months. 

The evidence is clear: far-left price-setting schemes mean more big-government bureaucracy, reduced access, and stifled innovation, depriving patients of the cures of tomorrow – and these are costs too high for America’s patients and taxpayers to bear.” 

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