LETTER: Harry Reid beats the odds

Regarding your June 20 editorial on former Sen. Harry Reid’s experimental treatment for cancer: The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is approximately 10 percent, so it’s wonderful to read that Harry is now cancer-free, potentially resulting from an experimental drug. Access to life-saving prescription drugs is critical for cancer patients and those suffering from many other diseases.

Sadly, though, U.S. prescription drug prices are skyrocketing, and drug makers need to be reined in. As it stands, the drug makers are pricing Americans out of life-saving medications. They set the list prices on the drugs people need most, leaving patients and insurers to come up with the money. The result isn’t just that some people can’t afford their prescriptions. All health insurance premiums have to go up on all patients to keep pace.

Common-sense reforms will protect the critical innovations for which drug companies are responsible. And, at the same time, it will set market-based prices for the innovative medications people need. As a member of the Senate, Reid supported numerous efforts to drive down the cost of prescription drugs. We need more champions like Reid in Congress today. Or the price tag for all Americans will keep going up.