{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stanton.house.gov/2022/2/ahead-of-state-of-the-union-stanton-and-arizona-seniors-urge-action-on-prescription-drug-prices", "Ahead of State of the Union, Stanton and Arizona Seniors Urge Action on Prescription Drug Prices", "2022-02-28", "2022", "2022-02", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Greg Stanton", "S001211", "stanton.house.gov", "stanton", "https://stanton.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Ahead of the State of the Union, Rep. Greg Stanton held a roundtable with seniors, AARP and Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans leaders to discuss the urgent need for Congressional action to lower the soaring cost of prescription drugs.\n\nStanton said that in addition to addressing the crisis in Ukraine and border security, he hopes President Biden will use Tuesday night\u2019s speech to pressure Congress to pass legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.\n\nEfforts to allow Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies have passed the House but have been blocked in the Senate.\n\n\u201cArizonans need relief when it comes to prescription drug prices, and Congress must take action,\u201d Stanton said. \u201cWe have to keep our word to Arizonans.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf the Senate doesn\u2019t act, people will continue to have to choose between paying for groceries and paying for medicine they need. Our members have a message to our senators: Don't let pharma win. Lower drug prices, now,\u201d AARP Arizona State Director Dana Kennedy said. \u201cSo we're also going to be watching the State of the Union address and hope that the President makes this a priority as well. He has said so, but you know, talk's cheap and action is what people are expecting.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are counting\u2014the American people are counting\u2014on what the House passed to move forward in the Senate,\u201d Dora Vasquez, the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans\u2019 executive director said.\n\n\u201cI've seen the statistics: more than one out of four seniors deny themselves the prescription drugs, the health care, that they need because they can't afford it. And for a while I faced that very dilemma myself,\u201d Vernon Smith, a local AARP member, said. \u201cThere's nothing I can think of that would be more important than finding a way to slow the growth in the cost of prescription drugs, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, making them more readily available to all of us.\u201d\n\n\u201cReducing drug prices for patients would allow for more accessible care for patients, help them with their chronic disease states, and support them in their health care goals,\u201d Mary Soto, the associate director of pharmacy at Mountain Park Health Center, said.\n\nOther participants shared personal stories of struggling to cover high costs.\n\n\u201cI went from no prescription drugs to $15,000, boom, like that. I'm very fortunate I had good insurance. I managed it, but it was $15,000 out of pocket, in addition to the insurance premiums that we all pay. But it hammered home to me the importance of getting Medicare, drug prices reduced,\u201d Ritch Stevens, chair of the AARP Arizona Advocacy Network, said.\n\n\u201cI've had the opportunity working with veterans and also with veteran spouses. And one lady in particular, was given two years to live. She had cancer and she had heart problems. She survived that. She has a medicine that costs $100 a bottle. She\u2019s on a fixed income,\u201d Dennis Prince Sons of American Legion (S.A.L.) Commander said.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:57:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stanton.house.gov/2022/2/ahead-of-state-of-the-union-stanton-and-arizona-seniors-urge-action-on-prescription-drug-prices"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8271350525319576, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}