Last week, the American Independent reported that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis told state lawmakers that he wants them to pass legislation that will lower the cost of prescription drugs. However, DeSantis voted against legislation lowering prescription drug prices several times while he was a member of the House of Representatives.
The report notes that DeSantis “voted against a congressional motion aimed at prohibiting ‘mergers that would unreasonably increase the costs of pharmaceutical drugs’” in 2018, and “voted against the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which included a measure that forced drug companies to pay rebates to the federal government if they raised drug prices more than the cost of inflation.”
The American Independent also mentioned that DeSantis has “taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry since he was sworn in as governor in 2019, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.”
The American Independent: DeSantis touts plan to cut drug prices but voted against drug pricing bills in Congress
By Emily Singer | January 13, 2022
Key Points:
-
“Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday held a news conference in which he told state lawmakers that he wants them to pass new regulations that he says will lower the cost of prescription drugs, an issue he’s been focusing on as governor.”
-
“DeSantis said that he wanted Florida lawmakers to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, third-party administrators of prescription drug plans. He wants the Legislature to ban pharmacy benefit managers from forcing customers to use mail-in pharmacy services and from charging pharmacies more for drugs than they cost, which he said increases the cost of drugs.”
-
“However, when DeSantis was a member of the House of Representatives, he voted against legislation that would lower the high cost of prescription drug costs multiple times. He’s taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry since he was sworn in as governor in 2019, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.”
-
“DeSantis has accepted more than $350,000 in campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies since 2019, including more than $53,000 in 2022 and more than $316,000 in 2021.”
-
“In 2018, DeSantis voted against a congressional motion aimed at prohibiting ‘mergers that would unreasonably increase the costs of pharmaceutical drugs.’”
Read the full report here.
Published: Jan 17, 2023 | Last Modified: Jan 18, 2023