Ten years ago today, Senator Susan Collins voted for an amendment that would have eliminated a provision in a major appropriations bill to ban drug manufacturers from making so-called “pay-for-delay” agreements. These secret schemes, in which a pharmaceutical company pays their competitors to not manufacture generic versions of their products, have allowed drug companies to make billions of dollars while forcing patients to pay on average ten times more for their prescriptions.
Two years after that, Collins threw patients under the bus again, voting against an amendment to crack down on the same type of “pay-for-delay” deals. And in 2017 she voted for the GOP tax bill that gave four of the top pharmaceutical companies $7 billion in tax breaks while ballooning the national debt by nearly $2 trillion -- putting social Security and Medicare at risk.
Big pharma has rewarded Senator Collins with more than $450,000 in campaign contributions for her consistent support of their bottom line. But while Collins has been well funded by her pharmaceutical pals, Mainers are stuck paying more for the prescriptions they need.
“After twenty four years in Washington and hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from big pharma, it’s clear that Susan Collins is no longer working for us,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “She voted to allow pharmaceutical companies to continue making backroom deals to boost their profits by making patients pay more. At a time when many Mainers are struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of their prescriptions, we can’t afford a Senator who’s voting to line big pharma’s pockets.”
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