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Advocates Predict More Bipartisan Support in Congress for Tackling Drug Pricing Problems
Advocates with Families USA, a consumer advocacy group focused on health care issues, said they see a growing appetite in Congress to regulate prescription drugs and tackle the issue of increasing drug prices.
Monday's prescription drug roundtable focused on the cost, access and affordability of often life-saving drugs. The discussion featured industry experts as well as people personally affected by rising drug costs.
Antroinette Worsham, a Cincinnati native, said her daughter, Antavia, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a teenager. Covered by the Children with Medical Handicaps Program (CMH) through the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), until she was 21, Antavia began rationing insulin due to high costs when she aged out the program, and died at age 22. Worsham said she has another daughter, Antanique, with Type 1 diabetes who will soon age out of the same program, and she is extremely worried her younger daughter will be put in a similar circumstance.
Maureen Allen, of Georgia, also joined the discussion. Allen said she is 80-years-old and totally dependent on Social Security for income. Though she is relatively healthy, Allen said she was prescribed Eliquis, a drug with no competitors, to treat her blood clots, some of which form in her lungs. Allen said the drug costs her $600 after insurance for a three-month supply and that she has been forced to forego dental care, as well as limit herself to one meal a day, to make ends meet.
Allen said she thinks if the company that makes Eliquis had more competition, the price would go down.
Sandra Wilkness, director of Complex Care Policy at Families USA, pointed to studies that showed prescription drugs prices have continued to rise beyond the rate of inflation even during the pandemic. (See https://tinyurl.com/y4h9zcog.) Additionally, one study she cited from the West Health Policy Center predicts more than 1.1 million Medicare patients could die over the next decade because they cannot afford to pay for their prescription medications. (See https://tinyurl.com/y5asosmf.)
She also shared results from a survey of about 1,200 voters which showed reducing prescriptions drug prices is among voters' top concerns and has bipartisan support. (See https://tinyurl.com/y3r6fhn9.)
Harris Meyer, West Health and Families USA media fellow; Alex Ruoff, health reporter at Bloomberg Government News; and Jen Taylor, senior director of federal relations at Families USA, all suggested there is a growing appetite in Congress to tackle the problem. They agreed the real question is how Congress will approach the issue and said any meaningful proposal would have to be bipartisan because of the slim majorities in the House and Senate.
Meyer said there are currently proposals in both the House and Senate to cap the out-of-pocket expenses for consumers and noted the public has become "less tolerant" of drug price hikes.
Story originally published in The Hannah Report on January 25, 2021. Copyright 2021 Hannah News Service, Inc.
