On tape, then the statute
These are not ads. They are hearings and White House remarks where people in the job say Americans should not pay four times a peer country for the same vial, should not ration insulin. Watch the desire. Then read what this site already built: who sat in the door, which bill died, which slice became law. The political action page is the rulebook. The hospital voices page is the night. This is the pharmacy tape.
Bernie Sanders · Katie Porter · Chuck Grassley · Joe Biden · Donald Trump
Insulin, Humira, a national list, Medicare in the room. The hospital night — 2–3× Medicare, must-have emergency department, secret commercial contract — is the other half of the 5%. That tape is next door.
Hospital voices · Patient voices · Evil · Historical voices · Why the night is 2–3× · Maryland
2023 · Senate HELP / Judiciary · drugs
Bernie SandersSenate Judiciary hearing — Affordable & accessible medications
The poster child for high drug prices is insulin. Eli Lilly launched Humalog in 1999 at $21 a vial. Over the next twenty years they raised it more than two dozen times. We pay more than four times what other wealthy nations pay for the exact same brand-name drugs.
WantsBargain as a country. Stop treating a century-old molecule like a launch-year brand. He names NIH as the public lab the sticker never pays back.
On this siteThe 4× is RAND, not a slogan. Until the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare was forbidden to negotiate Part D — that is the 2003 non-interference clause, not a market. Humalog is still a PBM-list story: rebate off a high sticker. Insulin $35 is Medicare only. The job-plan vial is still the list unless the manufacturer cut it after this heat.
2019 · House Oversight · drugs
Katie PorterOversight — AbbVie CEO, Humira (not insulin)
The big pharma fairy tale is groundbreaking R&D that justifies astronomical prices. The reality is you spend most of the company’s money making money for yourself and your shareholders. The American people — the patients — deserve so much better.
WantsStop letting buybacks, litigation, and a patent thicket pose as the cost of the next cure. She is asking the CEO to say the quiet part: the sticker is not the lab.
On this siteThis clip is Humira / AbbVie, not a hospital night. Twelve-year biologic exclusivity plus thickets is how a brand stays the brand. RAND still has US brands at ~4× a peer national list. The hospital 2–3× is a different machine — a must-have emergency department and a secret commercial contract.
2019 · Senate Judiciary (then chair) · drugs
Chuck GrassleySenate Judiciary — Drug pricing in America (his opening)
We’re here thanks to checks and balances. Ranking Member Wyden and I launched an inquiry into the high cost of insulin. This hearing is not about scapegoating any one group. We cannot allow anyone to hide behind the complexity.
WantsA Republican chair and a Democratic ranking member trying to see the whole chain — manufacturer list, PBM rebate, federal spending — before they pick a statute to change.
On this siteThat diagnosis matches this site. The manufacturer wants a high list. The PBM wants a rebate that looks like work. Neither bargains as a country. A hearing that refuses a single villain is closer to the truth than a campaign ad. The statute that still sits under it is the rebate safe harbor and the missing national list.
Rebate safe harbor · Insurer / PBM chips · Who stands in the door
2023 · White House · drugs
Joe BidenWhite House — Inflation Reduction Act anniversary remarks
For years many of us have been trying to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. This time we finally did. Seniors were paying as much as $400 a month for insulin. They’re now paying 35 bucks a month.
WantsLet the country’s largest buyer bargain like the VA already does. Cap insulin on Medicare. He says it should go beyond seniors — and then the clip goes back to the law he could pass.
On this siteThis is the hole punched in non-interference, not a repeal. Ten drugs in 2026, then more. Peterson-Kaiser Family Foundation: those ten still ~2.8× the OECD average. Commercial and the rest of the formulary are not in the room. H.R. 3 was the bigger basket. The Senate did not take it up. Reconciliation is why this is thin.
Inflation Reduction Act as passed · H.R. 3 · What the ten still cost
2020 · White House · drugs
Donald TrumpWhite House — July 2020 drug-pricing executive orders
Medicare will be required to purchase drugs at the same price as other countries pay. The heads of the major drug companies have requested a meeting to discuss how we can quickly and significantly lower drug prices.
WantsMost-favored-nation: the US sticker should not be the global piggy bank. Same desire as H.R. 3’s international-reference cap, as a rule instead of a statute. Also: $35 insulin for seniors, and pass the 340B-style discount through to the person at the counter.
On this siteThe 2020 most-favored-nation interim rule is the one on this site’s rulebook: the drug-makers’ lobby (PhRMA) sued, a judge enjoined it, it never paid a claim. The desire is not the statute. A later order can say the same sentence. Courts and PhRMA are still the door. H.R. 3 tried to do this as a law. The Inflation Reduction Act took a slice that could survive 50 votes.
The hallway: Hospital voices · Historical voices · Patient voices · Evil · Political action · Mark · Flagship · Problems / solutions · Negotiation · The 5% · Evidence