The rising drug prices have been at the forefront of the political discussions. Republican Representative Francis Rooney, this week, introduced the “Drug Price Transparency Act,” which is aimed at lowering drug prices for seniors.

Cosponsoring the bill is Democratic Representative Peter Welch, and the bill details that it will “provide for a study and report on the feasibility of basing reimbursement rates for Medicare part B drugs and covered part D drugs on the average prices for such drugs in the member-states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.”

Speaking on the bill, Rooney explained that “Skyrocketing drug prices are an unacceptable burden for our senior citizens. Americans pay much more for prescription drugs than seniors in other developed countries. In fact, beneficiaries of Medicare Parts B and D are often unfairly burdened for 20 percent of the cost of some of their most expensive medications.”

Rooney also added that “It is long past time to right this wrong. I introduced the Drug Price Transparency Act to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to study the feasibility of linking Medicare Part B and D drug prices to the average price of such drugs in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, where the same drugs are often cheaper than in the United States. This is a good first step to publicly showing Americans how greatly we overpay for the same drugs in other developed countries.”

Welch also added that “Skyrocketing drug prices are crushing hardworking Americans and preventing sick patients from accessing breakthrough medicines. This bipartisan legislation will expose pharmaceutical price gouging in this country so we can fix a broken market and reform the way lifesaving drugs are bought and sold.”