Sen. Smith hears from Minnesotans hit hard by price of prescription drugs
(KMSP) - Sunday morning Sen. Tina Smith sat down with several Minnesotans whose lives have been financially upended by the high price of prescription drugs they need for their serious health problems.
She was joined by local advocates and experts in an effort to bring prescription drug prices down.
Since joining the Senate in January, Sen. Smith won a seat on the Senate Health Committee and made it a priority to curb the cost of prescription drugs.
“We are one of the richest countries in the world and yet we have this [problem],” Smith said. “Why should it be that some people have access to the medicine that they need and other people don’t? Why should it be that just the cost of trying to afford it is so unbearable?”
Smith recently introduced her first Senate bill, which would help families and seniors in Minnesota and across the country gain access to lower-priced generic drugs, ending a pharmaceutical company tactic to keep them out of their hands by paying generic manufacturers to keep the less expensive drugs off the market.