Thursday Senator
Blumenthal met with over a CT dozen health leaders at Charter Oak Health
Center in Hartford to learn more about the drivers of rising drug costs, the
impact on the health of state residents, the burden on public and private sector
budgets across the state, and what can be done. He heard that Hartford
Hospital’s budget for just 12 generic medications is up $2 million over the
last three years. New Haven’s emergency medical services are now spending half
their pharmacy budget on opioid-overdose medications, and another 40% on
epinephrine. We heard that patients with multiple sclerosis needing costly new
medications are being refused entry to institutions because bundled payments do
not adequately cover these extreme costs. We heard from a mother who now spends
over $6,000 on epi-pens each year to protect her family. Rising drug prices are
crowding out other critical spending, in health care and beyond. Concerns were
raised about federal ACA repeal and Medicaid block granting proposals, and the
impact on access to lifesaving medications in addition to the rest of our
state’s health care needs. Senator Blumenthal noted that the federal government
is at an “enormous point of opportunity and obligation to do something.” In
addition to bills he is co-sponsoring on Medicare negotiating drug prices, drug
importation from Canada and other countries with similar regulations to the US,
and banning pay-for-delay
legal tactics to inhibit generic competition, he asked for more
ideas. He heard about ensuring any ACA repeal preserves the elimination of Medicare’s donut hole, removing
barriers to generic entry to market, and federal march-in rights “to
address concerns about the commercialization of technology developed with
public funds”, among other ideas. He heard about state efforts
to control costs, but clearly heard that the federal government needs to join
those efforts to be successful. We talked about next steps to bring effective relief to consumers, payers and providers facing extremely squeezed resources.
