Joel Navarro, Tempe City Council Member | Guest Commentary
As a third-generation Arizona native who has served on the Tempe City Council since 2008, I have always been on the lookout for policies being considered in Washington that could have unintended consequences for my local community.
Proposals to deprive pharmacy interests of patients and employers have recently come to my attention and should cause concern for those who receive health insurance from employers and unions.
These bills target employers, unions, families and pharmacy benefit companies, which are key members of the health system that help secure savings for patients. In addition to savings, pharmacy benefits companies also help achieve better health outcomes and provide employers flexibility and choice in providing prescription drug coverage to their employees. They add at least $145 billion worth to our healthcare system each year.
These proposed policies would increase costs and eliminate the option for employers and unions to provide prescription drug coverage, with 45% of Arizonas with employer-sponsored health insurance It would jeopardize the health care of much of its 169,000 members. Restricting pharmacy benefits companies reduces choice and limits the ability of unions and companies to design the best health care services for themselves and the families they support.
These proposed policies do not address the high prescription drug prices that make health care prohibitively expensive for so many Arizonans. Big pharmaceutical companies set the price of drugs. No one else sets a price for them.
Time and again, big pharmaceutical companies have demonstrated a tendency to exploit the system to stifle market competition and maximize profits by setting exorbitant prices. From 2008 to 2021, the launch prices set by major pharmaceutical companies for 500 drugs rose from an average of $2,115 per year in 2008 to $180,000 per year in 2021. In just the first few weeks of this year, we’ve seen pharmaceutical companies raise prices for: About 1,000 existing drugs.
At a recent hearing, Families USA executive director Frederick Isasi testified: That’s because they’re negotiating a better rate…we know the price. And we know they are saving us money. That’s why[the Congressional Budget Office]gives us scores that if we take them up, the price goes up. ”
The CBO estimated that a 2019 proposal targeting savings secured by pharmacy benefit companies in Medicare Part D would cost taxpayers $177 billion over 10 years. The CBO also found that eliminating savings secured in the form of rebates could increase seniors’ premiums by an average of 25%.
People in our communities can’t afford to lose the savings pharmacy benefits companies provide and the health care they currently get even if employers and unions are stripped of the option to support those plans. You should not face the risk of losing your insurance.
The only entity that will benefit from these proposals is the pharmaceutical industry, so it is no wonder that it is behind these policies that only harm Arizonans. Asked who would benefit from a bill aimed at pharmacy interests, Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, said, “The winners are the manufacturers…the competition between manufacturers like Big Pharma. will be less,” he said.
Lawmakers in Arizona should send a strong message to Big Pharma that the era of price gouging is over.
Senators Kirsten Cinema and Mark Kelly have been strong advocates for protecting healthcare benefits and lowering prescription drug prices by holding big pharmaceutical companies to account. For example, Sen. Cinema recently opposed the erroneous Pharmacy Benefits Administrator Transparency Act, one of his erroneous proposals that undermines medical benefits.
I urge Congressional leaders to defend our health care benefits by opposing false proposals targeting pharmacy benefit companies. Instead, let’s continue to hold big pharmaceutical companies accountable for making prescription drugs more affordable for Arizonas.
