OP-ED
Far too many seniors face an impossible choice: pay for prescription drugs, or purchase other necessities. Roughly one in every five seniors has recently declined or delayed filling a prescription, skipped a dose, or split pills because of the cost.
President Trump recently floated two proposals to tackle this affordability crisis. Both are well-intentioned. But one could easily backfire and deprive seniors of lifesaving medicines -- while the other would help solve the problem with virtually no downsides.
Patients are counting on the president to choose wisely.
That first plan, which the White House has dubbed its “Most-Favored- Nation” proposal, could cap U.S. drug prices at the levels that prevail in European countries with socialized healthcare systems. In those countries, drug price controls result in patients having fewer treatment options and facing years-long delays to access medicines that Americans take for granted, all while forcing biotech companies to curb investment in potential new treatments and cures.
If we adopt those same price controls, it’s inevitable that sooner or later, Americans would suffer the same rationing and decline in research and development that Europeans experience. Socialism doesn’t work in Europe, and it wouldn’t work here, no matter how noble the White House’s intentions are.
Fortunately, the other option is far more promising. For months, President Trump has repeatedly spoken of the need to “totally cut out the middleman” from the drug supply chain.
He’s referring to the pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and other intermediaries that stand between the companies that develop and manufacture drugs on the one side, and patients on the other. Today, about half of all money spent on brand-name medicines goes to these middlemen.
PBMs are some of the worst offenders. These enormous, yet obscure, companies decide which medicines are, and aren’t, covered by insurance. And they use their leverage to negotiate huge discounts and rebates off the price of drugs -- but generally don’t pass these savings on to patients who need to fill prescriptions. In fact, PBMs have a perverse incentive to steer patients towards more expensive medicines, which come with bigger secret kickbacks to the PBM.
By extracting billions from the healthcare system, PBMs make medicines less affordable while offering little value to patients.
That’s why the White House is increasingly pushing drug companies to start selling their medicines directly to patients at transparent, discounted cash prices cutting out the middlemen entirely. In fact, the president announced the government will create a website, “TrumpRx,” to help patients find and buy drugs directly from manufacturers.
Innovative companies like Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, which offers transparent cash prices for dozens of medicines, have already proven time and again that bypassing PBMs can deliver real savings at the pharmacy counter.
Unsurprisingly, this solution is popular. Surveys show that 86% of Americans in battleground congressional districts support allowing manufacturers to sell medicines directly to patients and local pharmacies.
Among seniors, support is even stronger: 90% favor direct sales, and just under 80% say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who backed the idea.
President Trump doesn’t need to import socialist price controls along with all the negative consequences they bring -- to make medicines more affordable. He merely needs to pursue his excellent idea of making it easier for patients to purchase discounted medicines directly from manufacturers, so that middlemen don’t siphon off savings that could otherwise go to patients.
Saul Anuzis is president of 60 Plus, the American Association of Senior Citizens. This piece originally ran in the Detroit News.
