WASHINGTON – In an op-ed published in The Hill, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) outlines a plan to lower prescription drug prices by fixing a system that allows savings to disappear before they reach patients.
“Big announcements don’t lower your pharmacy bill,” Gallego writes. “Savings don’t count if families never see them.”
After the Trump administration announced new agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers to implement “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) pricing in Medicaid, Senator Gallego sent letters to major drug companies demanding answers on how those arrangements would affect patients’ out-of-pocket costs and whether savings would actually reach patients at the pharmacy counter. Senator Gallego has also been outspoken against Trump RX, which would leave Americans paying more, not less.
In the op-ed, Gallego argues that Americans need structural reforms, not press conferences, to bring down drug prices. He calls for:
- Strengthening and accelerating Medicare drug price negotiations
- Increasing transparency and accountability in pricing agreements
- Ensuring negotiated savings are passed directly to patients
- Eliminating excessive markups and aligning cost-sharing with actual net drug prices
The op-ed highlights the story of Marshall Militano, a North Phoenix resident who relies on Medicare and Social Security to afford medication. Before the new $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap took effect, Militano was paying roughly $400 per month for his prescription. Without the cap, those costs could reach $1,400 per month.
“The $2,000 cap is real progress,” Gallego writes. “But families are still stretched thin before they ever reach it.”
Gallego also emphasizes that lowering drug prices and supporting medical innovation are not mutually exclusive, calling for protections for research funding while cracking down on price gouging.
“This debate isn’t about branding,” Gallego writes. “It’s about whether our government has the courage to deliver real results.”
Read the full op-ed HERE.