SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Prescription Justice, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to lowering drug prices in America, today introduced its new 2020 Congressional report card on drug prices. Using a dynamic, multi-factor methodology, members of the House and Senate are scored and assigned a letter grade, A through F. The grades, which are based on data from votes taken, bills sponsored and co-sponsored, money received by pharmaceutical manufacturers and reviews of policy positions on congressional websites, are accessible at http://www.PrescriptionJustice.org. Congresspersons who take the Prescription Justice Pledge can increase their grades.
The drug prices grade is designed to empower voters, advocacy groups and political organizations to determine who they want to support in upcoming elections based on their records on prescription drug prices. Using the share feature on the web site, grades can easily be shared on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and by email.
"High drug prices have long been a public health crisis in our country, and the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly aggravated the problem," said Prescription Justice founder, Gabriel Levitt. "In too many cases, such as with insulin, people are dying because they can't afford common life-saving treatments. Americans deserve to know whether their elected officials are working to solve the problem of drug prices or they are part of the problem, and our new report card will help them find out."
"Most congressional report cards rely on simple vote tallies on a given issue," said Michael Walker, political data analyst at Data Made Useful. "Prescription Justice's report card takes a much deeper dive into analyzing congressional behavior on drug prices. This was in part a matter of necessity, because votes on drug prices are few and far between, but also a matter of substance, because our multidimensional approach can best show voters how committed their elected officials are to this issue."
Unlike most other issues where voters split along ideological lines, Democrats and Republicans agree that prescription drug pricing is a huge problem. Overall, about eighty percent of Americans believe drug prices are unreasonable. Ninety percent of Democrats and 80% of Republican voters want to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The report card reflects the fact that far more Republican members of Congress are out of touch with the electorate, but so are many Congressional Democrats.
In the House of Representatives, there were of 12-As, 210-Bs, 8-Cs, 33-Ds, and 166-Fs. In the Senate there were 15-As, 17-Bs, 14-Cs, 29-Ds, and 24-Fs.
Grade Breakdown by Party in the House and Senate:
-House Democrats: 12-As, 207-Bs, 8-Cs, 3-Ds, 3-Fs
-House Republicans: 0-As, 3-Bs, 0-Cs, 30-Ds, 163-Fs
-Senate Democrats: 14-As, 14-Bs, 7-Cs, 7-Ds, 5-Fs
-Senate Republicans: 1-A, 3-Bs, 7-Cs, 22-Ds, 19-Fs
Total: 27-As, 227-Bs, 22-Cs, 62-Ds, 190-Fs
"Politicians who want to take a stand on drug prices can fill out the Prescription Justice questionnaire. We call it the Prescription Justice Pledge" said Jodi Dart, Executive Director of Prescription Justice. Members of Congress can raise their grades by going on the record on the organization's policy platform. "For each yes answer they give, members are awarded 2 raw score points toward a new or higher grade. Members who entirely commit to the pledge go up a full grade. As a long-time Republican voter, I would like to see members of my party begin to move on this issue and give their voters the relief they need on drug prices."
In addition to the grade which is available at https://prescriptionjustice.org/, Prescription Justice will also offer an online presentation for journalists, members of Congress, advocacy groups and voters to explain how the report card works. For access to the presentation, please contact Jodi Dart. The full press release is also available on the Prescription Justice website, here: https://prescriptionjustice.org/resources/press-releases/press-release-august-4-2020
About Prescription Justice
Prescription Justice, a 501c4 nonprofit organization, is dedicated to ending the crisis of high drug prices in America. Bringing together doctors, lawyers, public health and consumer advocates, and concerned citizens from across party lines, Prescription Justice advocates for serious regulatory and legislative reforms that will substantially lower the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans and expand access to lower-cost medication from abroad. Learn more at: https://www.prescriptionjustice.org/
SOURCE Prescription Justice
Share this article