{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/following-legislative-push-from-king-cms-proposes-rule-to-increase-prescription-drug-pricing-transparency", "Following Legislative Push from King, CMS Proposes Rule to Increase Prescription Drug Pricing Transparency", "2018-10-15", "2018", "2018-10", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BRUNSWICK, ME  Today, U.S. Senator Angus King\r\n(I-Maine) applauded a\r\nproposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)\r\nthat would implement a piece of Senator King's bipartisan legislative efforts\r\nto require the disclosure of drug prices in advertising. The proposed rule\r\nreflects language from the King-backed Drug-Price\r\nTransparency in Communications Act, and would\r\nrequire pharmaceutical\r\ncompaniesto list pricesintheir prescription drugs in\r\ndirect-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements. If the proposed rule were to be\r\nimplemented, itwouldhelpto empower patients, promote\r\ntransparency, and lower prescription drug costs.  We've all seen the commercials for prescription medications \r\nyou know, the ones that spend half of the ad listing a variety of escalating\r\npossible side effects. But no matter how many of those commercials you watch,\r\nthere's one thing you won't hear: how much this drug will cost you, said\r\nSenator King. For decades, pharmaceutical companies have been able to sell\r\ntheir drugs to the public without disclosing their prices, and all the while,\r\nthe prices have continued to rise. These costs are hurting Maine people who\r\nrely on prescription medications, and they deserve transparency. This proposal\r\nhas significant bipartisan support, and for good reason  it's a commonsense\r\nanswer that will address a serious challenge facing millions of Americans. Senator King's bipartisan work on this issue has attracted support from the AARP,\r\nAmerican Medical Association, American Hospital Association, Federation of\r\nAmerican Hospitals, America's Health Insurance Plans, BlueCross BlueShield\r\nAssociation, and the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. Senators King,\r\nDick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) advocated for the inclusion of\r\nan amendment based on the Drug-Price Transparency in Communications Act\r\nin last month's minibus funding bill, but the provision was stripped\r\nfrom the final bill. Last year, the pharmaceutical\r\nindustry spent more than $6 billion in DTC advertisements, which drive up\r\nhealth care costs by steering patients towards more expensivemedications.\r\nThe average American sees nine DTC prescription drug ads each day.\r\nStudies show that patients are more likely to ask their doctor for a\r\nspecific brand-name medication, and doctors are more likely to prescribe one,\r\nwhen they have been marketed directly with drug advertisements. For these\r\nreasons, most countries have banned DTC prescription drug advertising, with the\r\nUnited States and New Zealand being the only two developed countries that allow\r\nit. Senator King has supported commonsense legislation to drive\r\ndown the costs of medication in the United States. In September, he visited the\r\nCenter\r\nfor Seniors in Kennebunk to discuss the importance of lowering drug prices.\r\nDuring a July discussion at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, he announced\r\nhis support for legislation to prevent pharmaceutical companies from\r\nclaiming tax deductions related to DTC advertising. In theMay\r\nedition of his monthlyInside Mainepodcast, Senator King\r\ndiscussed programs to help Maine people save money on medications with Sarah\r\nJones, the Program Coordinator of MedAccess and Trish Riley, Executive Director\r\nof the National Academy for State Health Policy.In\r\nMarch, he discussed his legislative efforts to reduce drug prices at the\r\nMaine Veterans' Home in Augusta, highlighting his cosponsorship of both\r\ntheDrug-Price Transparency in Communications Act, which requires\r\nthe cost of medications to be disclosed to both consumers and prescribers, and\r\ntheCreating and Restoring Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act,\r\nwhich seeks to increase access to generic medications. During the health care debate in July 2017, Senator King\r\noutlined a roadmap of priorities to stabilize the marketplace and lower the\r\ncosts of treatment and coverage for people across the country. Included in his\r\nroadmap was theSafe\r\nand Affordable Drugs from Canada Act, bipartisan legislation that would\r\nallow for the importation of drugs from licensed Canadian pharmacies for\r\npersonal use if they have the same active ingredients, route of administration,\r\ndosage form, and strength as a prescription drug approved by the FDA. Senator\r\nKing also supports theMedicare\r\nPrescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, legislation that would allow\r\nthe Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices for\r\nprescription drugs under Medicare.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/following-legislative-push-from-king-cms-proposes-rule-to-increase-prescription-drug-pricing-transparency"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7415951006114483, "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"}