Mitch McConnell filed cloture on a drug corporation handout

Friend, “We may have defeated Trumpcare, but that doesn't mean Senate Republicans are done trying to exploit the American people. Sen. Mitch McConnell just filed cloture on the OPEN Act, which is an $11.6 billion handout to prescription drug corporations. We're delivering your signatures to every Senate office this week--we need you behind us! Stand with Social Security Works to oppose another billion dollar giveaway to drug corporations and say no to big pharma monopolies. You can read more abut the OPEN Act in our original email below. Thank you, Alex Lawson Social Security Works Friend, In 1983, Congress passed a law aimed at spurring innovation for drugs that treat rare diseases, offering tax credits and monopolies as incentives. But, as they so often do, pharmaceutical corporations immediately turned the law into yet another way to extract money from the people’s pockets. A year’s treatment can cost people with rare diseases more than a house. Pharmaceutical corporations’ ravenous hunger for profits leads to Social Security benefits that are increasingly eroded by medical co-pays and out of pocket expenses. And Congress has a new handout on the way. Stand with Social Security Works to oppose another billion dollar giveaway to drug corporations and say no to big pharma monopolies. The greed of the drug companies is boundless. Now, their Washington lobbyists are pushing a new bill―the Orphan Product Extensions Now (OPEN) Act―which would grant drug manufacturers six additional months of exclusivity, the monopoly power that allows the companies to charge as much as they like. It’s estimated that this new law would cost patients and taxpayers up to $11.6 billion over 10 years―padding the pockets of the greedy pharmaceutical industry and ensuring that we continue to pay the highest drug prices in the world! Former Congressman Henry Waxman of California, the author of the 1982 Orphan Drug Act, had this to say about how drug companies are manipulating the system: “We’re seeing the Orphan Drug Act used in ways that we never anticipated when the law was adopted. In the way people use the word ‘orphan status,’ it’s almost becoming a synonym for a monopoly price.” Stand with Social Security Works to oppose the OPEN Act, yet another billion dollar giveaway to big pharma corporations. If passed, the bill would allow drug companies to repurpose drugs that are already on the market, giving them “orphan” status. For patients this means competing drugs that might lower prices would be kept off the market, leading to budget busting drug prices for even longer for the people. Instead of padding the insurance company profits, Congress should be focusing on bills that rein in abuses by drug companies, and make sure people can afford the health care they need. Together, we’re fighting the greedy pharmaceutical industry and their powerful Washington lobbyists. “ Thank you, Michael Phelan Social Security Works