A plan by Connecticut Democrats to reduce prescription drug prices won the approval of a key state legislative committee on Tuesday.
The General Assembly’s Human Services Committee approved the prescription drug affordability and health care expansion bill mainly along party lines.
It ties Connecticut drug prices to the national prices negotiated by Medicare under a new federal law, said state Senator Matthew Lesser of Wethersfield, who is a sponsor of the bill.
“The same prices that Medicare is going to be paying should be the same prices that everyone else pays. Certainly you can pay less than that, but we shouldn’t be paying more than those negotiated prices,” Lesser said.
“In this country we have the right and the freedom to run our companies the way we want,” said Representative Charles Ferraro of West Haven, one of the minority Republicans who is opposed to the bill. They are concerned that it is government interference in the free market.
The bill now heads to the Appropriations Committee for further action.
