Gage Miskimen | The Des Moines Register

On the same day Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang kicked off his New Way Forward Iowa Bus Tour, he released a new policy proposal aimed at controlling prescription drug costs and also qualified for the December debate stage.

A crowd of Yang supporters, dubbed the Yang Gang, gathered at the Iowa State Capitol to help launch the bus tour in Des Moines.

Yang's campaign also kicked off a new fundraiser, hoping to raise $2 million by the end of the Iowa bus tour, which finishes with a second Iowa City stop on Saturday.

On Tuesday morning, before his Iowa bus tour kicked off, Yang released a policy proposal describing his plan to control the cost of prescription drugs.

In the plan, Yang says as president he would work with Congress to pass a law allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, use international reference pricing to set a baseline and see the average costs for medication in other countries and create public manufacturing facilities to produce generic drugs.

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Photos: Andrew Yang kicks off Iowa bus tour in Des Moines

The policy states that if a company is charging too much for a particular medication, another company willing to charge a "reasonable amount" will be granted a license to make the medication.

If, as president, Yang can't get policies passed through Congress, the policy states that he would allow the importation of prescription medications from other countries.

When asked about the policy during an editorial board meeting with the Des Moines Register, Yang slapped the table and exclaimed "yes!", excited to talk about it.

"I'm not against companies being able to make a reasonable return on their businesses. I've had businesses myself," Yang said. "But the drug companies have taken it to an all new extreme and they need to have some monetary incentive to keep their prices under control."

Yang said drug companies only respond to "dollars and cents."

Kelsey Kremer/The Register

"If we stood outside the drug companies and said 'do the right thing', we could say that every day forever and have zero impact," Yang said. "But if you say, 'hey, this is going to impact your shareholder, returns and shareholder value,' then suddenly, their behavior would change."

It was also during the editorial board meeting that Yang found out he had qualified for the December debates, hitting 4% in a Quinnipiac poll.

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Outside of his bus during the Des Moines kickoff rally, Yang was asked if he had any plans for the debate stage this time around.

"We are going to do something unprecedented on the debate stage next week and that is show up as the lone person of color," Yang said. "I'm excited to make the debate stage but not surprised. We've been very consistent in growth throughout."

Yang said he hopes the bus tour, which on Tuesday also included his 14th Iowa office opening in Grinnell, helps him learn more from Iowans about what the challenges are in the state and how he can best improve Iowans' lives.

Kelsey Kremer/The Register

"Iowa is the quintessential purple state and the fact it went to Donald Trump by eight points is in fact, a challenge that we need to address," Yang told reporters on his bus. "For better or for worse, it's going to be the federal government that has the resources and ability to address some of the biggest challenges Iowans are facing. So we will keep learning about those challenges and see what we can do to help.

What I hope Iowans learn from me is that I'm not a career politican as much as I am a citizen, a parent, and a patriot who decided we need to have a different approach to solving problems."

Gage Miskimen is a news reporter mostly covering West Des Moines, Waukee, and Clive for the Register. Reach him at gmiskimen@dmreg.com or 515-284-8234.

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