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Merkley Seeks Price Limits On Prescription Drugs

Myriam Zilles via unsplash

U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon on Thursday introduced a bill that seeks to limit what he called price gouging for prescription drugs sold in the U.S.

The bill would make it so drug companies can’t charge Americans more for prescription drugs than the median price in 11 other wealthy nations — including Canada, Japan, Australia, and eight others in Europe.

Americans spend more on prescription drugs than anyone else in the world. At a press conference, Merkley told reporters that’s because of politics.

“Here in America our political system gives drug companies enormous clout because they can put almost unlimited sums into campaigns,” Merkley said.

Under his bill, pharmaceutical companies that sell their drugs for more than the reference price would face civil penalties charging five times the amount they profited.

Merkley said he’s pushing the Biden Administration to include similar drug price reforms into the American Families Plan. That’s a massive legislative initiative that’s expected to include childcare subsidies, paid family leave and other domestic policies.

In Oregon, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have proposed Senate Bill 844, which would create a state board that could set limits on how much Oregon buyers would be allowed to pay for generally high-priced drugs.

April Ehrlich is an editor and reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting. Prior to joining OPB, she was a news host and regional reporter at Jefferson Public Radio.