REPRESENTATIVE SUSIE LEE HOLDS ROUNDTABLE ON HEALTH CARE AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS – Offers Support for Veterans Efforts to Change VA’s Recent Drug Refill Policy

By: VRN Staff
Representative Susie Lee held a series of roundtable meetings during the Congressional break in early October to discuss pending legislation on prescription drugs and health care issues. At a session held on October 9th at her Las Vegas office, Representative Lee responded to a question about what she had heard from the community. ” I heard a lot of support for HR 3, the Democratic package to lower drug costs; allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug pricing; tag the inflation of prescription drugs; [and to]… a cap on Medicare beneficiaries to $2000 a year and sets up penalties to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.”
She went on to note that 25 % of people didn’t take the right amount of drugs or forgo taking the correct amount of their drugs purely because of price issues with drugs. “When you think about this, these are lifesaving preventative measures.”
Lee went on to stress the value of keeping people out of the hospital and doctor’s offices and how preventative care worked to reduce overall costs. “I came to Congress to work on issues that affect the lives of my constituents, health care costs, prescription drug costs are the number one issue I hear about every single day…these roundtables are so important for me because they allow me to hear from my constituents from the bottom up…I want to go back and fight with information directly from the ground here.”
Lee went on to answer a number of other related questions before Su Phelps, editor of the VRN asked the last question of the day. Ms. Phelps explained to Represnetative Lee that the VA has changed the way veterans order prescriptions, requiring them to wait until the ”due date” before getting refills. With the additional shipping and processing time prescriptions often run out well before the refills arrive. She asked what the Representative could do to help veterans with this issue.
Lee responded, “We can certainly talk to you about moving some legislation; writing letters to the VA and certainly providing oversight to make sure we’re moving forward on that and addressing that issue.”
Editor’s Note: Please let us know if you or your organization is working on this prescription drug refill issue. While VRN does not have the staff available to work with Representative Lee, we are happy to put readers in contact with person’s or groups who do. Contact us at: VeteransReporterNews@gmail.com or 702.642.7028.
We will provide continuing coverage of this issue. Find more information about H.R.3 – Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 online at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3/text
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