Trending News Today: Report Pushes Legislators to Take Action on Drastic Drug Cost Increases

Since its implementation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed millions of individuals to gain access to health insurance. A new study shows that the amount of adults who have gone without medical care due to costs decreased by one-fifth between 2013 and 2015, the Los Angeles Times reported. The study discovered that the decrease was even more significant in states that expanded coverage through the law.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio aims to enroll 50,000 more individuals in health insurance plans purchased on the ACA marketplaces by 2017. State officials have said that enrolling this many individuals will save the city’s hospitals more than $40 million per year, according to The Wall Street Journal. The mayor also believes that if many individuals enroll, it may make repealing the health law more difficult for President-elect Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.

A new report from the Senate calls on Congress to take action that prevents pharmaceutical companies from purchasing older medications with no market competition and drastically increasing their prices without justification, according to The New York Times. In the report, the Senate says that companies who do this harm patients, taxpayers, and the healthcare system. While the report does not recommend involving the government in setting the prices, the goal is to prevent pharma companies from making exorbitant profits at the cost of patient health.