Baldwin falls short with claims about Hovde’s position on prescription drug prices

As the clock ticks toward Election Day 2024, candidates’ claims and counterclaims are growing sharper. In Wisconsin, the top state contest pits incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, against Republican challenger Eric Hovde.

During an October 18, 2024 debate on health care costs, Baldwin targeted Hovde over expensive prescription drugs.

“He opposes efforts to negotiate with big pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of prescription drugs, saving patients and Medicare money,” Baldwin said.

But Hovde shot back.

“I believe we need to negotiate with Big Pharma,” said Hovde, who has multiple sclerosis. Hovde, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was diagnosed multiple sclerosis in May 1991.

“I think our drug prices are too high. When I first started taking my medications for MS, they cost about $6,000 a year,” Hovde said. “Now they’re charging $35,000 for generic drug prices. I’m against Big Pharma.”

So, is Hovde okay with lowering prescription drug prices or not? A spokesperson for Hovde did not respond to an email request for comment. But let’s look at Baldwin’s claim.

Against the Inflation Reduction Act

When asked to support Baldwin’s claim, an aide pointed to several statements by Hovde opposing the Inflation Reduction Act, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servicesmade improvements to Medicare by expanding benefits and lowering drug costs.

“For the first time, the law gives Medicare the ability to directly negotiate the prices of certain high-cost, single-source drugs without competition from generics or biosimilars,” the law says. CMS.gov website say.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction ActAmong other things, the provisions included a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance subsidies and capped out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and insulin for Medicare Part D beneficiaries.

The Biden administration announced in August that it had negotiated with drugmakers to reduce the cost of the 10 most expensive drugs under Medicare using the Inflation Reduction Act.

But the bill also provided $369 billion in energy and climate change infrastructure.

During a radio interview in August 2022 on the Vicki McKenna Showposted on listeningnotes.com Hovde called the Inflation Reduction Act a “big, ugly bill.”

When asked which federal programs he would cut if elected, Hovde responded in an October 1, 2024 radio interview with Joy Powers of WUWM’s “Lake Effect‘, said he would reduce federal spending to 2019 levels. Powers asked which programs Hovde would cut if elected.

“All the spending on federal programs went up, but most of the increase went to things like the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips Act, which I don’t know why we’re spending so much money on the welfare of big chip makers. .”

In an op-ed written by Hovde and published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel On October 8, 2024, Hovde wrote: “I will fight for greater price transparency across the healthcare system, giving patients and employees the ability to shop prices and make informed decisions. I will fight to require health insurers … to make public their negotiated drug rebates and rebates, revealing the true cost of prescription drugs.”

So basically, Hovde is against the Inflation Reduction Act, a multi-faceted bill that included among its measures a provision that for the first time allowed negotiation of the prices of certain Medicare drugs.

Hovde noted that and has also explicitly stated, “I believe we need to negotiate with Big Pharma” and “I think our drug prices are too high.” Hovde also discussed what he would do to reduce pharmaceutical companies’ costs ahead of the October 18, 2024 debate.

Our statement

Baldwin said, “(Hovde) opposes efforts to negotiate with the big pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of prescription drugs.”

Hovde has opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been used to negotiate lower drug prices with drug makers. But there are also many other expenses in the law, which have nothing to do with drug prices, and which Hovde calls inflationary.

Still, Hovde has made it clear that he believes drug prices are too high and that “we need to negotiate with Big Pharma” and put pressure on drug makers in other ways.

For a statement that contains some truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we consider it largely false.