Prasanth Reddy, a physician and the Republican nominee for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, disagrees with Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids about the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to reduce drug prices for Medicare recipients.
Davids, who has been serving since 2018, supports the law, highlighting its impact on lowering insulin costs to $35 per month for Medicare users and capping annual out-of-pocket drug expenses at $2,000. It also allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices for 10 key medications by 2026.
Reddy, however, argues that the law could hinder medical innovation by imposing government-mandated price caps. While he agrees on the need to make drugs more affordable, he believes government intervention might hurt the development of future treatments. Instead, he suggests increasing the production of generic drugs, which would lower costs while encouraging continued innovation.
The Inflation Reduction Act passed Congress along party lines in 2022, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposing it. The campaign between Reddy and Davids has drawn attention to Reddy’s financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, which Davids’ camp has criticized as a conflict of interest.