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Dan McCready unveils plan aimed at lowering prescription drug costs

MINT HILL, N.C. — Democratic 9th Congressional District candidate Dan McCready is unveiling a plan aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. McCready held a news conference to discuss the proposal Thursday at Mint Hill Pharmacy.

According to a copy of the proposal obtained by Channel 9, McCready is proposing a "10-point plan to lower prescription drug costs."

[SPECIAL SECTION: District 9 investigation]

McCready's plan calls for strict enforcement of a 2018 law signed by President Donald Trump that bans pharmacist gag orders on lower cost drugs. A similar bill was signed into law in 2017 by Gov. Roy Cooper. The law will likely become a major issue in the 9th District race.

Republican 9th District candidate Sen. Dan Bishop was the only lawmaker to vote against the proposal in the General Assembly.

[PDF: Dan McCready's prescription drug plan]

McCready's proposal includes a ban on pharmaceutical companies severely hiking prices on lifesaving prescription drugs without market justification, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, taking steps toward value-based purchasing and limiting the amount of marketing dollars pharmaceutical companies are allowed to use with doctors.

Past coverage:

Other McCready proposals call for lower Medicare Part B drug prices, importing lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, a streamlined approval for generic drugs, low-interest loans for companies investing in the generic drug markets and the closing of loopholes allowing big pharmaceutical companies to prevent generic alternatives.

Channel 9 is reached out to Bishop for his response, which is below:

Anti-Trump Dan McCready, who called the President the single biggest threat to democracy, is bought and paid for by socialized medicine extremists like Elizabeth Warren and Tom Steyer who want to abolish private health insurance and institute a $32 trillion “Medicare for all plan” that will force devastating tax increases on the middle class.

California billionaire Tom Steyer, the de facto ringleader of the impeachment mob and socialized medicine movement is spending millions to try and send McCready to Washington. McCready has also received fundraising support from presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren and thousands from far-left groups like Act Blue and Swing Left. Democrats in Washington have repeatedly refused to work with President Trump on plans to lower prescription drug prices.

The Bishop campaign said voters cannot trust what McCready says, pointing to last week’s revelation that while he was pledging to oppose dark money in his 2018 campaign, he received nearly $1 million in support from a dark-money Super PAC.

“First the Democrats lied and said you could keep your doctor under Obamacare, and now they’re angling for a full government takeover that will abolish private health insurance and be a huge tax increase on the middle class,” said Bishop campaign spokeswoman Jessica Proud. “McCready may say one thing to get elected, but when you lift the veil on who’s backing him, it’s filled with extremists who want to impeach the President and institute socialized medicine.”

She continued, “President Trump has been a leader on lowering prescription drug prices and he made it crystal clear that he wants Dan Bishop in Congress working as his partner. The last thing we need is another never-Trumper beholden to the Democrats’ socialist agenda.”

Watch Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. for complete coverage on this issue.