“Cost should never be a barrier to patients accessing the care they need. Unfortunately, in seeking to solve the challenges people face paying for their prescription drugs, the Senate has misdiagnosed the problem: patients’ out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs are set by insurance companies, not biopharma companies. Instead of pursuing policies that would directly reduce out-of-pocket costs, the Senate chose to focus on implementing misdirected regulatory efforts that will not reduce costs for individual patients.
“With health insurance premiums and cost-sharing rates increasing faster than average wage growth in Massachusetts, healthcare affordability in Massachusetts is a legitimate concern that must be addressed by policymakers. Mandating insurers share prescription drug rebates with patients at the pharmacy counter is one clear way we could work to increase access and drive down costs.
“We need to follow the data. According to the latest state reports, prescription drug spending growth was the only major health expenditure category to stay below the benchmark, with total spending on prescription drugs in Massachusetts ranking fourth lowest of seven categories.”