House Democrats pass marquee bill to lower drug prices

House Democrats on Thursday passed the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a sweeping drug pricing bill that would allow Medicare to directly negotiate the price of up to 250 drugs and would cut pharmaceutical industry revenues by as much as $1 trillion in the next decade. Democrats would use the resulting savings to expand Medicare coverage to dental, vision, and hearing services. While two Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes, the bill is likely dead on arrival in a GOP-majority Senate, where lawmakers continue to weigh a comparatively modest, bipartisan drug pricing package. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on the House floor, called the bill a response to "a medical, economic and moral crisis" caused by high drug prices. PhRMA, the drug industry trade group, countered that the House "prioritized politics at the expense of innovation."