By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD– A state board would decide what the right price to pay for your prescriptions would be, under a bill introduced at the Capitol.
When you can’t afford to do what the doctor says, bad things happen, says Stephani (cq) Becker, associate director of healthcare justice at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
“Maybe not getting coverage or going uninsured, because the premiums are too high,” Becker told a Capitol news conference. “It could also take the form of delaying care, or going without care altogether, because you can’t afford it.. And then, lastly, maybe you got the care, you got the insurance, but you are struggling under medical bills.”
A bill sponsored by State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) would set up a board to determine how much patients should pay out-of-pocket for a drug.
A survey says one quarter of people in Illinois do not take drugs as prescribed – sometimes not even buying them – because of the cost.
In an e-mailed statement, Tiffany Haverly, director of public affairs at PhRMA – Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America – said,
“We understand that too many people across Illinois are struggling to afford their medicine, and the biopharmaceutical industry is committed to being part of the solution. With that said, proposals like HB 3493 that arbitrarily set prices are the wrong approach and could limit Illinoisans’ access to treatments and cures. Further, HB 3493 fails to address the long line of middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain that impact what patients pay at the pharmacy counter. One of the best ways to lower out-of-pocket costs is to make sure patients get their share of the rebates and discounts that biopharmaceutical companies already provide; rebates and discounts that exceeded $166 billion in 2018 alone. At the end of the day, the government price setting proposed in this legislation could threaten further research into lifesaving medicines and put patient access at risk.”
