UNITE HERE Pledges Ballot Box Consequences Over Death of TV Drug Pricing Consumer Protections

 

Washington, DC – Today the hospitality worker’s union UNITE HERE blasted congress for scrapping an amendment to the FY 2019 appropriations bill that would have required drug makers to include list prices in direct-to-consumer (DTC) television ads.

“The special interest Pharma swamp is alive and well in congress, but it’s making the rest of America sick,” said D. Taylor, President of UNITE HERE. “You would think that the hundreds of federal politicians seeking re-election this fall might want to serve their constituents, but they keep choosing pharmaceutical drug industrial complex over people. After these politicians blocked the commonsense step of disclosing the price of drugs advertised to voters by Pharma it is clear that the only way to get special interests out of congress is to throw their beholden politicians out at the ballot box this fall.”

The TV drug pricing amendment was sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) as part of an ongoing effort to combat soaring drug prices through greater transparency. In a rare moment of common sense regarding pharmaceutical policy, congress today did move to protect ESRD funding that had been on track for diversion since June.

UNITE HERE has long been a leader on healthcare reform, including successfully passing statewide pharmaceutical transparency laws in Nevada and California in the past two years.  

 

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UNITE HERE represents 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in the U.S. and Canada. Learn more at www.unitehere.org

 

Contact: Rachel Gumpert, (908) 752-3929