After months of polls showing voters’ concerns about prescription-drug costs, members of both parties in Congress are paying attention. But the issue has the potential to split Republicans, who are typically wary of government intrusion into marketplaces.
While some GOP members are open to congressional involvement in drug prices, others aren’t budging. Among the latter is Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Finance Committee, making the issue an almost certain nonstarter.
“You can moan and groan about costs all you want, but if you want life-saving therapies, and you want treatments and or cures, you have to pay the price to get there,” Hatch said in an interview.
“I think Congress ought to keep their mitts off, other than to try to have some reasonable approach towards it that spurs on the industries, so that we have these treatments and or cures, and doesn’t gouge people,” he said. “No matter what you do, it’s expensive. No matter what you do. And it isn’t the drug companies’ fault, normally.”
