Based on the idea that health care is important – it is, right? – and that predictability and transparency are standards worth promoting, two proposals within Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2023-24 budget are both valuable and modest.
The measures deal with drug prices. They don’t seek to control costs, but to require public notice regarding pricing. It’s little enough to ask, but based on the pharmaceutical industry’s past opposition, it’s likely to fight both, according to AARP New York. State legislators need to stand firm.
One measure would require advance notice of any price increase. Information to be reported would include the name of the drug, its price before and after the increase, the effective date of the increase, the date the decision was made and the justification for it. The filing fee would be driven by the date of notification. Earlier is cheaper.
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The measure would not only give patients time to plan – perhaps to switch to a different drug – but also provide valuable information for existing regulatory agencies.
Drug transparency laws are in effect in 19 states, both red and blue, and include three of New York’s neighbors: New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont. This state should join them.
The other measure would provide transparency on an anti-competitive practice that can only be described as nefarious. It’s called “pay to delay” and it occurs when the maker of brand-name drug compensates a competing generic company to hold off on releasing an equivalent. Both the manufacturers benefit but the public is burned. Across the country, the cost to consumers of pay to delay is estimated in the billions of dollars.
In truth, the practice should be abolished and could be if Congress were to act. That’s not in the offing for the moment, though. In the meantime, Hochul’s measure would at least require the specifics of those agreements to be made public, including the length of any delay. Perhaps that will help to disincentivize those unscrupulous deals and, if not, at least consumers will know who is picking their pockets.
This is a hopeful time for Americans worried about the skyrocketing cost of drugs, some of which are lifesaving. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act finally gave Washington the authority to negotiate the price it will pay for some drugs covered by Medicare, starting in 2026. President Biden is now pushing to expand that authority even as the pharmaceutical industry pushes back.
And with the president also advocating for lower insulin prices, one key manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co., announced last week that it is capping monthly out-of-pocket costs for the drug at $35. Some Americans have had to pay more than $300 for insulin, Biden said.
This is all important work to make health care more affordable. Albany must do its part. Hochul’s proposals are both reasonable and necessary.
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Based on the idea that health care is important – it is, right? – and that predictability and transparency are standards worth promoting, two proposals within Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2023-24 budget are both valuable and modest.
The measures deal with drug prices. They don’t seek to control costs, but to require public notice regarding pricing. It’s little enough to ask, but based on the pharmaceutical industry’s past opposition, it’s likely to fight both, according to AARP New York. State legislators need to stand firm.
One measure would require advance notice of any price increase. Information to be reported would include the name of the drug, its price before and after the increase, the effective date of the increase, the date the decision was made and the justification for it. The filing fee would be driven by the date of notification. Earlier is cheaper.
The measure would not only give patients time to plan – perhaps to switch to a different drug – but also provide valuable information for existing regulatory agencies.
Drug transparency laws are in effect in 19 states, both red and blue, and include three of New York’s neighbors: New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont. This state should join them.
The other measure would provide transparency on an anti-competitive practice that can only be described as nefarious. It’s called “pay to delay” and it occurs when the maker of brand-name drug compensates a competing generic company to hold off on releasing an equivalent. Both the manufacturers benefit but the public is burned. Across the country, the cost to consumers of pay to delay is estimated in the billions of dollars.
In truth, the practice should be abolished and could be if Congress were to act. That’s not in the offing for the moment, though. In the meantime, Hochul’s measure would at least require the specifics of those agreements to be made public, including the length of any delay. Perhaps that will help to disincentivize those unscrupulous deals and, if not, at least consumers will know who is picking their pockets.
This is a hopeful time for Americans worried about the skyrocketing cost of drugs, some of which are lifesaving. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act finally gave Washington the authority to negotiate the price it will pay for some drugs covered by Medicare, starting in 2026. President Biden is now pushing to expand that authority even as the pharmaceutical industry pushes back.
And with the president also advocating for lower insulin prices, one key manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co., announced last week that it is capping monthly out-of-pocket costs for the drug at $35. Some Americans have had to pay more than $300 for insulin, Biden said.
This is all important work to make health care more affordable. Albany must do its part. Hochul’s proposals are both reasonable and necessary.
