Former congresswoman, Consumer Product Safety Commission chairwoman, and nurse Ann Marie Buerkle is here to discuss A) how Americans rank healthcare costs as their top concern and B) real policy solutions to reduce drug and healthcare costs.
She's written previously in The Washington Examiner about how the GOP can lower healthcare costs and how big government will not lower healthcare costs.
Rep. Buerkle's thoughts:
The best way to lower drug and overall healthcare costs is empower the private market by doing the following:
Break up the relationship between Big Pharma and the government
We need patent reform that allows more generic and biosimilar drugs to come to the market. More competition = lower costs.
Stop legislating on behalf of Big Pharma and pharmacists to take away tools the private market use, like Pharmacy Benefit Managers, to lower drug costs
We need to reject special interest-driven legislation like S.127 that is dreamed up by Big Pharma and the pharmacist lobby to boost their profits
Crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in the hospital industry. Everyone knows they charge too much.
We need federal legislation to address hospital “dishonest billing,” like the legislation being worked on by Sens. Braun and Hassan & and Reps. Spartz and Kuster.
She's written previously in The Washington Examiner about how the GOP can lower healthcare costs and how big government will not lower healthcare costs.