Are You Paying Too Much?

Texans are rightfully frustrated by the exorbitant costs and confused by the lack of transparency.

One Rockport resident told me his prescriptions cost around $1,000 each month, but he can get them for nearly $850 less if he drove just a few hours away into Mexico. 

This is unacceptable.  

Last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, we held a hearing to discuss the reforms needed to fix issues like this, drive down costs and increase transparency. 

I talked about how some drug companies take advantage of the patent system to discourage competition – an action that I compared to money laundering. You can watch my remarks by clicking here. 

Texans deserve better, so I introduced legislation to tackle some of the pieces of this complicated drug pricing puzzle.  

One of these bills would allow the Federal Trade Commission to bring antitrust lawsuits against these drug manufacturers taking advantage of the patent system. 

Competition gives patients greater access to the drugs they need at an affordable price, and we can encourage competition without infringing on companies’ patent rights. 

Taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize high drug costs to pay for our broken system, and medication shouldn’t be a luxury for only those who can afford it.  

I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to advance these targeted reforms and lower prescription costs for Texans.