U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan was in Nashua Friday highlighting her new proposal to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Under the measure, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would be required to monitor pricing spikes to ensure drug costs aren’t rising unfairly.
The bill would allow the department to negotiate prices for Medicare prescription drugs. It would also cap the amount of money patients and families can pay on prescription drugs annually out of pocket.
Hassan introduced the legislation this week.
“No one should be forced to decide between putting food on the table and filling a prescription that could improve or even save his or her life,” Hassan said at Friday's press conference.
According to the state’s Insurance Department, patients and insurance companies spent more than one billion dollars on prescription drugs in 2015.