February 26, 2026
The Honorable Bill Cassidy
Chairman
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
455 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Bernie Sanders
Ranking Member
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510
Chairman Cassidy, Ranking Member Sanders, and Members of the Committee,
On behalf of National Taxpayers Union, the nation’s oldest taxpayer advocacy organization, I write to express our concerns with three amendments offered by Senator Sanders to S. 3315, the Health Care Cybersecurity and Resiliency Act of 2025. While this legislation takes important steps to protect Americans’ health data, the proposed amendments would divert this bipartisan legislation from its intended purpose of strengthening cybersecurity and instead advance policies that threaten medical innovation and affordability for American patients as well as taxpayers.
One amendment would allow the government to revoke patent protections for drugs that are deemed excessively priced. It does this by imposing an international reference pricing regime for drugs that is underpinned by price controls rather than market signals. Pursuing such an approach may produce some budgetary savings in the short-term, yet price controls would invariably threaten America’s biomedical leadership and patient welfare in the long-term by blunting incentives for drug development. Nearly all the reference countries in this amendment employ aggressive government price controls that result in delayed patient access to new therapies. Setting drug prices below the cost of research and development doesn’t lead to increased efficiency, it simply discourages private investment in medical innovation—the very innovation in breakthrough treatments that can generate long-term savings in government-funded health programs.
Another amendment would ban drug manufacturers from using direct-to-consumer advertising to promote their products. While advertisements for drugs should be transparent and responsible, an outright ban would reduce informed decision-making by limiting patient awareness of novel therapies. Furthermore, an advertising ban would harm competition in the pharmaceutical industry by raising barriers to entry for new, more effective treatments. It is also reasonable to expect that an advertising ban would invite serious legal questions given freedom of speech protections enshrined in the Constitution.
Finally, the third amendment would impose private market price controls on prescription drugs. In similar fashion to the first amendment, this provision would reduce incentives for manufacturers to invest in novel therapies by setting prices below what the market would support. Patients would inexorably be harmed as distorted price signals stifle the pipeline of new drugs.
Addressing the disparity in drug prices between the U.S. and other developed countries is a valid concern for policymakers. Yet, this shouldn’t involve importing the failed policies of countries that ration care and limit treatment options for patients. Instead, we urge this Committee to work toward putting an end to foreign free-riding on American innovation.
By imposing reimbursement caps that suppress prices through administrative fiat, foreign health systems shift a disproportionate share of research and development costs onto U.S. patients and taxpayers. Making developed countries pay their fair share would restore balance to the global pharmaceutical market without risking the incentives that lead to new drug discoveries for patients—and, ultimately, better fiscal outcomes for taxpayers, who would see long-term costs in government health programs reduced through fewer doctor visits, surgeries, and hospital stays.
We encourage the Committee to focus its attention on the structural drivers of high drug costs. Singling out drug manufacturers while leaving other actors such as pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and hospitals out of comprehensive, balanced policy solutions will not produce the systemic benefits that patients and taxpayers need going forward.
Sincerely,
Alexander Ciccone
Policy and Government Affairs Manager
National Taxpayers Union