Casey bill would cap prescription costs for millions of Pennsylvanians
The Capping Prescription Costs Act would limit out-of-pocket annual costs to $2,000 for 173 million Americans.
A new bill sponsored by Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock could mean significant savings on prescription drug costs for millions of Pennsylvanians.
Casey is facing a competitive reelection race this November against millionaire Republican hedge fund investor Dave McCormick.
The Capping Prescription Drug Costs Act, introduced in the Senate on July 11, would limit out-of-pocket prescription drug costs to $2,000 annually for each individual and $4,000 annually for each family. According to a fact sheet from Casey’s office, the cap would apply to 173 million Americans under age 65 who have private insurance policies. It noted that 37% of adults in the United States struggle to afford all of their prescriptions.
“Prescription drug costs are like a bag of rocks tied around the necks of millions of Americans, weighing them down every single day,” Casey said in a press release. “My new bill will place a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Americans with private insurance, building on the success of the Inflation Reduction Act and lightening the load that has been weighing down Americans for far too long.”
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Jon Fetterman is an original co-sponsor.
In 2022, Casey voted for President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which limited out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for all recipients of Medicare Part D to $2,000 annually starting in 2025 and capped their costs for insulin at $35 per month.
McCormick opposed that law, saying in an October 2023 radio interview that it should be rolled back.
Casey’s new bill would bring that $2,000 cap to about 6.4 million Pennsylvanians with employer-sponsored insurance plans and to the more than 370,000 enrolled in a plan through the individual marketplace, according to data from the the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
A June 2023 poll for the progressive group Families USA found 61% of registered Pennsylvania voters believe prescription drugs are unaffordable.
