Senator Hassan’s Priorities Included in President Biden’s Executive Order to Boost U.S. Competitiveness and Lower Health Care Costs

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan released a statement on President Joe Biden’s executive order to promote U.S. competiveness and lower the cost of health care for Granite Staters and all Americans:  

“By increasing competition, this executive order will help lower prescription drug prices and expand access to lifesaving medication. In particular, the executive order will help lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing the safe importation of drugs over the Canadian border, which will help more Granite State families afford these medications and put pressure on American companies to lower their prices.

“I am also glad that the Biden administration is aggressively acting to implement the law to allow hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter, which will help ensure that more Granite Staters can afford this critical medical device. I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to build on this and pass comprehensive legislation to address the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs and expand health care access to more Granite Staters and Americans.”

The executive order announced today includes critical New Hampshire priorities that Senator Hassan has long fought for, including to:

• Allow importation of prescription drugs from Canada into the United States. The safe importation of drugs over the Canadian border will help families across the country secure more affordable prescription drugs and incentivize American pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices. Earlier this year, Senator Hassan introduced legislation to allow individuals to import safe prescription drugs from Canada.

• Allow hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter at drug stores. Senator Hassan cosponsored bipartisan legislation that was signed into law to make certain types of hearing aids available over the counter to Granite Staters and Americans, but the law’s implementation ran into significant delays under the previous administration.
  • President Biden’s executive order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to consider issuing proposed rules within 120 days for allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter.

• Increase access to generic and biosimilar drugs – which are often much cheaper alternatives to brand-named prescription drugs – and builds on Senator Hassan’s bipartisan legislation, which is now law, to increase education about biosimilar drug products to increase competition and lower the cost of biologic medicines.

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