It’s still not clear whether President Joe Biden is going to push for prescription drug price negotiation in the American Families Plan, but public opinion strongly suggests he should. A recent Data for Progress poll shows that while the public believes that the pharmaceutical companies did a good job coming up with a COVID-19 vaccine, Americans still want Congress to regulate prescription drug prices. A substantial majority of people want to ensure that everyone in the US can get the life-saving medicines they need; they want some balance between drug prices in the US and other wealthy countries.
Data for Progress found that 77 percent of the public supports drug price negotiation at the same time that they are pleased with the job that pharmaceutical companies have done developing COVID-19 vaccines. Just 17 percent of people oppose drug price negotiation. Of that 17 percent, eight percent strongly oppose drug price negotiation. Interestingly, 76 percent support matching drug prices in the US to prices in other wealthy countries–as does the drug price negotiation bill that passed in the House in 2019, H.R.3–with only 13 percent opposing this.
And, while the public supports using prescription drug savings to pay for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, 5o percent more Americans strongly favor paying for the infrastructure plan through increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Almost one in four (24%) Americans favor using drug savings towards infrastructure building; nearly four in ten (38%) Americans favor paying for infrastructure through increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Of note, only six percent (6%) of Americans believe that the government should not be investing in infrastructure.
The public also supports increasing government investment for research on affordable prescription drugs. Nearly seven in ten (68%) Americans support this initiative. Just 19 percent oppose it, and of that 19 percent, eight percent strongly oppose it.
Eight in ten Americans support allowing multiple companies produce the same medicines in order to bring down their cost. Only 12 percent oppose this proposal.
Here’s more from Just Care:
Leave a Reply