The Rising Cost of Pharmaceuticals for The Aging Population PDF

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The Rising Cost of Pharmaceuticals for The Aging Population Stephanie Lakawitch Southern New Hampshire University

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There have been many efforts to enact an initiative that addresses the cost of pharmaceuticals yet so far none have been successful. Senators and Congressmen have previously tried to pass legislature to help lower the cost of prescription drugs, yet none have been passed, as a result AARP is taking action into their own hands. In 2019 AARP launched a national campaign called “Stop RX Greed” which calls upon federal and state lawmakers to act upon the issue. The campaign “‘Stop RX Greed’ is calling on Congress and state legislatures to crack down on unfair drug pricing that often puts medications out of reach. Dana Kennedy, director of AARP Arizona, said the average Medicare beneficiary only makes about $26,000 a year, but chronic conditions can cost them thousands in out-of-pocket drug expenses (Richardson, 2019).”

This campaign differs from the previous efforts of legislation by publicly addressing congressman and the president himself to act upon this issue. AARP is advertising on public platforms for members to join them in their outcry for help from the government. AARP announced in a statement “The goal of AARP’s sustained campaign is to help drive down drug prices for all Americans by advocating for a variety of legislative, executive and regulatory actions at both the federal and state level (Jefferson, 2019).” In addition to addressing the president and congress themselves AARP has created a prewritten letter for members to sign and send in on their own behalf in hopes that increasing the volume of people concerned will speed up any results.

[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 3 Amongst the lobbying efforts of the campaign they are pursuing the release of new research about prescription drugs and consumer information programs to combat the multiple factors that cause the issue of costly pharmaceuticals. AARP identifies some of the main problems as the following, multiple middleman parties between the consumer and the manufacturer, failure to import, weak government negotiating, endless patents of brand name drugs, bottomless research funding. The hopes of the campaign are to “stop price gouging by allowing Medicare and states to use their vast buying powers to negotiate for lower drug prices and allowing state attorneys general to take legal action against drug manufacturers for excessive drug price hikes. The advocacy group also supports:

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Increasing access and affordability of prescription drugs by capping out-of-pocket costs for consumers,

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Expanding the availability of state pharmaceutical assistance programs,

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Allowing states to safely import prescription drugs from other countries,

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Protecting a recent Medicare improvement that helps beneficiaries with high prescription-drug costs.

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Closing loopholes that allow drug manufacturers to delay or even block the development of lower-cost generics,

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Ban deals that allow pharmaceutical companies to pay generic firms not to bring a competing product to market, and

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Supporting laws that promote transparency by requiring drug makers to justify dramatic price increases (Jefferson, 2019)”.

Despite several bipartisan bills being introduced to congress as an attempt to combat the growing issue, the desire to create such a campaign was derived from the failed efforts of previous legislation from both congress and the previous presidents. On July 24th, 2020 President Trump signed four executive orders on drug pricing, giving AARP and its members hope that a

[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 4 solution is on its way, “The Trump administration unveiled a blueprint for tackling high drug prices that contains many commonsense strategies endorsed by AARP. That's made consumer advocates hopeful that something may soon be done about these skyrocketing costs (Marsa, 2019)”. The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar and the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) have finalized a regulation that encourages lower list prices and reduced out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020). The draft of the presidents “American Patients First” blue print was submitted January 31st 2019 and the final rule is set to make these changes effective January 1st 2022.

Research shows that the funding for AARP’s campaign is solely independent, coming directly from the company itself. It is possible that there are other donors from other companies but there is no public documentation of such. Funding for President Trump’s “American Patients First” plan seems or recycle the money that is already in the industry and redirecting towards a better allocation of funds rather than solely benefitting Big Pharma. The plan does so by “Excluding rival drugs with "rebate walls" distorts competition, discourages generic use and biosimilar adoption, and causes patients to pay more out of pocket. Also by amending the safe harbor regulations to offer protection for reductions in price that are reflected at the point of sale, the rule provides a strong incentive for drug manufacturers to offer discounts that directly benefits Medicare patients by lowering their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter and eliminates the perverse incentives for ever higher list prices for all patients (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020).

[SHORTENED TITLE UP TO 50 CHARACTERS] 5 References

1. Jefferson, R. S. (2019, March 13). “Stop Rx Greed” Campaign Calls On Washington To Cut Drug Prices. Forbes.Com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinseatonjefferson/2019/03/13/stop-rx-greed-campaigncalls-on-washington-to-cut-drug-prices/?sh=73d08ef940ad 2. Marsa, B. L. (2019, April 30). Here’s How to Lower Prescription Drug Prices. Aarp.Org. https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2019/5-point-prescription-drugplan.html 3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020a, July 24). Trump Administration Announces Historic Action to Lower Drug Prices for Americans. HHS.Gov. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/07/24/trump-administration-announces-historicaction-lower-drug-prices-americans.html 4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020b, November 20). Fact Sheet: Trump Administration Finalizes Proposal to Lower Drug Costs by Targeting Backdoor Rebates and Encouraging Direct Discounts to Patients. HHS.Gov. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/11/20/fact-sheet-trump-administration-finalizesproposal-to-lower-drug-costs.html...