Sen. Watters: Maggie Hassan isn’t afraid of Big Pharma

For too long, Granite Staters and families across the country have been struggling to keep up with the mounting costs of prescription drugs. Whether it's a mother who has to buy insulin for her daughter, a senior who depends on blood thinners, or a college student who needs an inhaler, families are often faced with hard choices: break the bank to pay for their prescriptions or stop taking essential medication. All the while, Big Pharma continues to line its pockets.

Granite Staters — and a majority of Americans — are pushing for Congress to take action to lower the costs of prescription drugs. Every candidate running for office in November should have to answer about how they plan to deliver on this.

Senator Maggie Hassan has those answers - and even better - she has actually done something about it.

Senator Hassan is not afraid to take on Big Pharma, something that none of the Republican candidates running against her have shown any willingness to do. For instance, she has taken on Big Pharma by working across the aisle to expand access to generic drugs – which are functionally the exact same thing as brand name drugs, but are often much, much cheaper. Expanding access to generics hurts Big Pharma’s bottomline, which is why they have fought tooth and nail to keep these drugs off the market for as long as possible.

During her time in the Senate, Senator Hassan fought to pass into law bipartisan legislation that closed loopholes supported by Big Pharma’s lobbyists that had kept cheaper generic drugs off the market. She also led bipartisan efforts to eliminate the ridiculous “gag clause” pushed by Big Pharma that prevented pharmacists from informing patients about cheaper ways to pay for their prescription drugs. And when Big Pharma found a loophole to underpay for Medicaid rebates – and then pushed those costs on the taxpayer – Senator Hassan teamed up with a Republican to end this practice, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

No one can deny that Senator Hassan has a real record of bipartisan leadership when it comes to bringing down drug prices and holding Big Pharma to account. Time and again, Senator Hassan has taken on Big Pharma and won — something that none her opponents can claim to have done.

There is still much more to do to make medications more affordable  – and Senator Hassan is leading the way to get this done. One commonsense step she’s pushing for is to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices to help ensure that patients are receiving the best possible price for their medication. Senator Hassan has also proposed legislation to take Big Pharma to task and stop them from raising drug prices well past the rate of inflation and exploiting this moment to get even richer.

Not surprisingly, all of this has made Senator Hassan a target for Big Pharma - and they are doing everything that they can to keep her from getting re-elected. Dark money groups have already launched negative ads against her, and Mitch McConnell, Big Pharma’s favorite Senator, is working hard to convince Granite Staters to elect a Republican who would vote with him and his Big Pharma agenda. All of the Senator’s opponents would be happy to oblige. None of them have shown any inclination to stand up to Big Pharma or Mitch McConnell.

None of her opponents care about lowering health care costs. If they did, they wouldn’t have supported repealing the Affordable Care Act and slashing Medicaid — and they certainly wouldn’t spend their Senate campaigns cowering to Big Pharma.

New Hampshire deserves better than that. If elected, the New Hampshire Republican Senate candidates would just be another rubber stamp for McConnell’s caucus. Granite Staters need to re-elect Senator Hassan this November. By keeping Senator Hassan on the job, New Hampshire will have the right leader for this moment: someone who is not afraid of Big Pharma — and who knows how to take them on and win.

Democrat David Watters of Dover represents District 4: Barrington, Dover, Rollinsford, and Somersworth in the New Hampshire State Senate.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Sen. Watters: Maggie Hassan isn’t afraid of Big Pharma