Issue 2 means fairer drug prices
During my medical career, I served as the National Director of Neurology for the Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). I know the American health-care system and how it’s broken. That’s why I’m voting yes on Issue 2, the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act.
Pharmaceutical companies place profits over people’s lives, making Ohioans choose between paying exorbitant prices for needed medication, or giving up their health. That’s not right.
Issue 2 simply allows Ohio to negotiate prices with drug companies and to pay no more for drugs than the VA pays. It will lower drug prices for millions of Ohioans, including 164,000 children, save taxpayers millions of dollars, and tell the drug companies and their CEOs, “Enough is enough!”
Costs of medications are skyrocketing and consumers are left with no other options. We’re forced to pay whatever the price is for medications because our health and lives depend on it. A few years ago, dimethylfumarate (DMF) was introduced as an oral treatment to reduce the numbers of multiple-sclerosis attacks. The components are cheap and synthesis simple. A competing injected treatment cost $50,000 a year. Instead of being sold at a much lower price, DMF was introduced at $50,000 a year. The newer cheaper agent did not lower the cost of competition, it bolstered the price. Today DMF and injected alternatives cost about $80,000.
The now infamous pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli raised prices on a drug to treat health problems associated with AIDS and pregnancy more than 5,000 percent. And everyone knows about the shameful cost increases for the life-saving EpiPen.
Without restraints drug companies can charge outrageous prices, while our choice is our money or our lives.
The drug companies are panicking and deploying scare tactics with their multimillion-dollar TV ads aimed at stopping Issue 2. Follow the money. It will lead directly to the groups who oppose this issue. I’m not being paid or compensated in any manner by the Issue 2 campaign or pressured into doing so. I just believe people need to be able to get the medications they need at reasonable prices.
Issue 2 is workable. The same policy has been working at the VA for 25 years as established by President George H. W. Bush and Congress, requiring the agency to negotiate with drug companies to ensure patients get fair prices.
Countries worldwide have measures to control the prices of prescription drugs, while the same drug companies are price-gouging us here. Why should American families have to pay more for drug prices than those in Asia, Europe, South America, or Canada? We don’t have to accept this ongoing threat by the drug companies. We can use our vote to stand up to these bullies by restricting what Ohio pays for prescription drugs.
A yes vote on Issue 2 will make Ohio the leader in reducing drug prices and send a message to the drug companies once and for all. Please vote Yes on Issue 2.
Dr. Robert Ruff Cleveland