In a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated Sunday, Schumer said Democrats will work with Republicans to “lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs,” as well as respond to the nation’s ongoing fentanyl crisis and “promote community health.”
“Passing these bills will not be easy, and we will depend on cooperation of our Republican colleagues to get any of them done,” he wrote.
Both the House and Senate appear to be coalescing around efforts to reform pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), though there are multiple bills from committees addressing different parts of the industry that will need to be coordinated.
Experts say PBMs are far from the sole reason for high drug prices but are part of a larger system that makes medicine unaffordable and deserve just as much scrutiny as manufacturers.
What’s less clear is what lawmakers will be able to accomplish regarding insulin pricing.
There are competing bipartisan bills in the Senate, as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) are competing against Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Kennedy (R-La.).
The common theme is a $35 monthly cap for people on private insurance, but the bills differ widely after that.
Neither Schumer nor Senate Health Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have committed to either package.
Major insulin manufacturers reduced the prices of several of their more popular insulin products earlier this year, though these reductions won’t go into effect immediately.
