Senator Sherrod Brown is welcoming President Donald Trump’s signing this week of two bills aimed at getting consumers better prices on prescription drugs. He says he’s hoping for similar bi-partisan action to rein in what he sees as another significant driver of healthcare costs.
The measures signed into law this week are meant to create prescription cost transparency for consumers so they can find the lowest prices.
Brown says its time now for the House and Senate to craft legislation to eliminate prescription drug advertising too. “We should be saying to drug companies you can no longer deduct the cost of advertising because that’s just a cost that fuels consumption more than it informs the public, and that’s just adding to the cost," Brown said. "Why should we give government incentives, tax payer dollars, to subsidize that kind of behavior by the drug companies?“
According to a report from an international research and consultant group, drug manufacturers spent an estimated $6.4 billion on prescription drug advertising in 2016.
