WASHINGTON, DC –– By a 71-point margin, voters support the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B by implementing an International Pricing Index (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties believe Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal that would lower prices for infused drugs administered in physician offices and hospitals.Importantly, 8 in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. Click here to read the poll.
Support for the proposed Medicare Part B reforms are widely popular.
- Among Democrats, 69 percent of voters say “even though I don’t normally agree with President Trump, his efforts to lower prescription drug costs for Medicare Part B should be supported by the Democratic majority in Congress.”
- Among Republicans, 83 percent of voters say “the Republican Majority in the Senate should support President Trump’s proposed changes to Medicare Part B.”
- 81 percent of voters think the Medicare Part B proposed changes would result in patients receiving better care (45 percent) or it would have no impact on the care that patients receive (36 percent).
Voters say drug prices are too high and both Congress and the President should do more to lower them.
- 85 percent of voters say lowering drug prices should be “a top” or “an important” priority for Congress.
- Only 9 percent of voters believe Big Pharma’s argument that drug prices are high because “it cost billions of dollars to develop new prescription drugs.” Instead they say that drug companies “jack up prices higher than they need to in order to have more profits” (50 percent) or because “drug companies spend millions of dollars contributing to the campaigns of members of Congress, who then do nothing to bring down the price of drugs” (21 percent).
- 83 percent of voters believe that people in other countries “pay far less for prescription drugs than we pay in the United States.”
“Voters in this country are clamoring for reforms to lower drug prices and they want officials in Washington to take action to bring prices more in line with other wealthy nations,” said David Mitchell, a Medicare beneficiary, cancer patient, and the Founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW. “This proposal will lower list prices and out-of-pocket costs for patients.”
75 percent of voters support—and 50 percent strongly support—the element of the proposal that will change the way doctors are paid to administer the drugs from a percentage to a fixed fee, thereby eliminating the incentive to prescribe more expensive drugs.
The telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted by GS Strategy Group from December 11-13, 2018. 50 percent of the interviews were completed via cell phone. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
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