Analysis: Congress could have been tougher on drug executives
Drug industry executives testify before the Senate Finance Committee.
In the hearing on drug prices — billed as one of the biggest Congress-vs.-industry showdowns since the tobacco hearings of the 1990s — exchanges between the lawmakers and the CEOs were remarkably unremarkable. But while senators on the committee asked the executives a range of questions about the drug pipeline, thereThe witnesses frequently recited well-worn arguments for why insurers and pharmacy middlemen should share more of the blame for the high cos of prescription drugs. The senators largely refrained from insisting on direct answers as to why these companies have1. Drugmakers were reluctant to make firm commitments to lowering list prices even under their best-case scenario.
The executives expressed openness to the idea but stressed the rebate ban should apply broadly to drugs covered in commercial plans and not just government-run programs — and hinted that insurers should still feel a responsibility to charge smaller co-payments to customers.
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