This post was originally published on Prescription Justice.
The highest score in the Prescription Justice Congressional Report Card on Drug Prices – 100 – goes to Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), with a grade of A+. The only other A+ in the House goes to Rep. Perter Welch (D-VT), who landed a score of 99.5.
In simple terms: Rep. Schakowsky gets the high score because she was incredibly committed, active and vocal about lowering drug prices – and barely takes money from drug companies: just over $1000. If all members of Congress hopped on the drug price lowering bandwagon just like Rep. Schakowsky, the crisis of high drug prices in America would end.
More specifically, Rep. Schakowsky had a perfect voting record (30 of 30 points), sponsored or co-sponsored 17 bills (25 of 25 points), gave priority on her congressional website to drug prices (20 of 20 points), and only took $1,134 from drug companies in campaign contributions (20 of 25 points).
You’ll notice that the only scoring criteria on which she lost points was campaign contributions from drug companies. We admit it: we’re very strict about that. But in the case of members like Rep. Schakowsky, the numbers are miniscule and obviously have not shaped the Congresswoman’s policies on drug prices.
You may also notice that Rep. Schakowsky’s raw score is a 95. Since she received the highest raw score, it was used as a benchmark for all other scores: hence the curve was 5 points to make 100! If you want to learn more about how Prescription Justice grades members of Congress, House and Senate, click on the chambers to view the methodologies.
Or, for more fun, watch the video on the Prescription Justice Congressional Report Card on Drug Prices.
