Article Summary –
Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and U.S. Senate nominee, consistently voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and received over $1 million in contributions from the pharmaceutical and health products industry. His opponent, Democrat Elissa Slotkin, helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which caps out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries and enables the federal government to negotiate drug prices. Historically, Rogers supported the creation of Medicare Part D and blocked measures to reimport cheaper prescription drugs from abroad, arguing that free-market competition would lower drug costs, though drug prices have continued to outpace inflation.
Over seven terms in the U.S. House, Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers repeatedly voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. Rogers has received over $1 million from the pharmaceutical industry since 1999.
Rogers is running for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. His Democratic opponent, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries at $35 and will cap annual out-of-pocket costs at $2,000. The act empowers the federal government to negotiate drug prices directly.
Congress created Medicare Part D in 2003. Rogers was among 220 representatives who voted for the bill, which included an industry-supported provision preventing government negotiation of drug prices.
In a 2006 C-SPAN appearance, Rogers defended the restriction, arguing that competition would lower drug costs. However, drug prices have outpaced inflation, leading Democrats to repeatedly attempt to lift the ban.
OpenSecrets reports Rogers has received $673,390 in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry. Contributions to his MIKE R Fund PAC add at least another $329,921.
A Rogers campaign spokesperson did not respond for comment.
In the early 2000s, Rogers voted against a bill to allow reimportation of cheaper drugs from abroad. He and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) wrote in a Lansing State Journal op-ed that “unmonitored, reimported prescription drugs can and have killed American citizens.”
On Aug. 15, the Biden-Harris administration announced that the first negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act will reduce the list prices of 10 popular drugs by 38% to 79% for Medicare starting in 2026, saving an estimated $1.5 billion.
“If the new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion, or approximately 22 percent, across the 10 selected drugs,” said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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