The rising cost of prescription drugs is the subject of a new state initiative campaign as well as several bills circulating in the state legislature. Expect a vigorous debate on all fronts.
Currently in California, a measure to control prescription drug pricing has qualified for the November ballot. The initiative is sponsored by Michael Weinstein, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. If passed, the “California Drug Price Relief Act” would connect the amount the state of California spends on a drug to the price the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pays, which is typically 20 percent below current market value. The ballot measure is being targeted for defeat by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
While that initiative battle looms, two bills moving through the California legislature aim to require greater transparency from drug manufacturers by telling consumers how much they and their plans are paying for a drug and by obligating drug manufacturers to notify and explain to health plans when a drug’s price is increasing by more than 10 percent. Proponents of Senate Bill 1010 and Assembly Bill 2463 say such disclosures can be useful tools when negotiating drug prices.
Highlighting the debate over drug prices is the cost of specialty drugs, which the federal government defines as costing $600 or more per month. A Kaiser Family Foundation study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in May 2016 describes current concerns over pricing. “Prices for many specialty drugs are higher in the United States than other developed countries, and about one in four people in the U.S. who take prescription drugs report difficulty affording them. http://kff.org/JAMA_4-05-2016.