There is no better time than now for prescription drug reform
If you’ve had trouble paying for prescription medicine for yourself or family members — regardless if you are insured or not — you aren’t alone. Americans pay three times more for medications than people in other countries. As the cost of lifesaving medications like insulin skyrocket, Pennsylvanians face impossible tradeoffs, like deciding whether to pay rent or to purchase the medications that keep them alive. As a doctor, I see examples of this almost every day.
One of my patients was a diabetic man in his mid-thirties who relied on insulin to stay alive — it was literally a life-saving drug for him. When the prescription cost of insulin rose, he was no longer able to afford his insulin due to being uninsured and being unable to pay the out of pocket price. As with so many other patients I’ve seen, he began to ration his medication to disastrous effects. This young man in the prime of his life developed diabetic ketoacidosis which led to kidney failure and a reliance on dialysis, completely altering the course of his life.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further laid bare the inequities in our health system, and now more than ever, we must be working together to lower health care costs for everyone. Particularly, we must focus on communities disproportionately impacted by the high cost of drugs: Seniors, women, communities of color, and even children are especially vulnerable to these skyrocketing costs.
It doesn’t have to be this way for my patients or any Pennsylvanians who rely on prescription drugs.
Working to lower the cost of prescription drugs is more than just the right thing to do — it’s overwhelmingly popular with voters across the political spectrum. A January 2021 Morning Consult poll found that 96% of voters said lowering drug prices is an important challenge facing Americans. I hear regularly from patients that they’re frustrated with drug prices and just want a solution.
Unfortunately, despite countless promises to take action, for four long years former President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress blocked proposed reforms addressing this very issue at every turn. Instead, they rewarded Big Pharma companies — and their CEOs — with record profits.
But in his first address to the Joint Session of Congress, President Biden struck a markedly different tone: “Let’s give Medicare the power to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower drug prescription prices,” he said. “Let’s do it now.” Democrats in the House of Representatives are following his lead.
In late April, House Democrats reintroduced H.R.3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. This bill would allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on behalf of all Americans — not just those on Medicare — which is the single most effective way to reduce drug prices. It also establishes strong protections against price gouging, and redirects more funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for life-saving research and development. Finally, H.R.3 would also penalize drug companies that increase prices faster than the rate of inflation, a shockingly common practice.
So many of my patients would benefit from H.R.3 and the health and financial security it would afford them. Those personal benefits are evident in the polling around it: Insights from a Gallup survey show the American public supports the provisions in H.R.3 meant to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Separate polling conveys that 93% of respondents — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike — support giving Medicare the power to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices.
It’s horrifying to know there are Pennsylvanians in my hospital and across the state who ration their medications or delay care because the costs are too high. Legislation like H.R.3 would help change that reality for millions of people and reform is long overdue. With President Biden’s support, we can get this done. Now is the time for Congress to take bold action and pass this bill.