Chuck Ernest Grassley & Ron Wyden, Columnists

Congress Can Act Now to Lower Drug Prices

Bipartisan legislation would redesign Medicare Part D to lower costs for beneficiaries and taxpayers.

Insulin has gotten too expensive.

Photographer: SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images
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It’s no secret that health care is a politically divisive issue. In the past decade, national elections have been decided on it, and control of Congress has changed hands in part over it. Despite these differences, there is hope for a bipartisan agreement to lower prescription drug costs.

Drug prices have become a top issue for people of every region, demographic and ideology, polls consistently show. One in 4 seniors say it’s difficult to afford their medicines, and 80% of Americans consider prescription drug costs unreasonable. Price hikes year after year exceed any justifiable metric.