NLARx participant Rep. Don Walko has introduced a package of bills to save the state and consumers money on the high cost of prescription drugs. He will be asking the Rendell administration to support the legislation. “The cost of prescription medication continues to skyrocket. This has a major impact on the state budget and on taxpayers. It also has a major impact on people who have no prescription drug coverage and must devote an ever-higher share of their family budgets to paying for their medicine. This situation is not sustainable for individuals or for state government,” Walko said. Walko’s bills would:

• Consolidate Pennsylvania’s 14 drug purchasing programs to increase negotiating power (H.B. 715); Urge the Rendell administration to bring Pennsylvania into I-SaveRx, a multi-state program that safely imports drugs from Canada and Europe (H.R. 51). Five states are already participating: Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and Vermont;
• Investigate how much of the price increases for drugs in Pennsylvania result from the cost of heavy advertising and promotional campaigns (H.R. 114). In many cases, the advertising and promotion also drive up costs by creating more demand for drugs that consumers may not need or that are more expensive than a generic equivalent;
• Regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), companies that run prescription drug coverage for business and government (H.B. 714). Several PBMs have been accused of helping drug companies sell more brand-name medications instead of saving money for the businesses and governments that pay them to handle drug benefits;
• Urge Congress and the Bush administration to fix the Medicare drug benefit law passed in 2003 so that Medicare could negotiate prices with the drug companies as the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department already does (H.R. 116). This resolution would also urge Congress and President Bush to address concerns that people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid may face serious problems when the new Medicare drug benefit is implemented in 2006;
• Authorize the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to join the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, which works to make prescription medicine more affordable and accessible for citizens (H.R. 115). The Pennsylvania Senate already belongs to the Association.