DENVER — The introduction of HB1260, The Drug Price Transparency Act of 2018, brings Coloradans one step closer to lowering drug prices. The legislation is strongly endorsed by Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW, a bipartisan national patient organization focused on policies to lower drug prices. P4ADNOW announced plans to educate, activate, and mobilize Colorado patients in support of the bill.
The group will create online tools that help patients contact elected officials in support of the bill, and it will amplify the voices of Coloradans struggling under high drug prices to make elected officials see the heavy toll of high-priced drugs.
“No one in Colorado should have to choose between affording a life-saving drug and putting food on the table, but that is exactly what Colorado patients report to us,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient whose drugs cost $450,000 per year and the Founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW. “Colorado patients tell us devastating stories of skipping doses, cutting pills in half, and going into bankruptcy due to the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs. That’s why this bill is so critical.”
Retired nurse Margaret Wright-Mueller is among those Coloradans hurting under skyrocketing drug costs and rooting for the transparency bill.
“I worked in the ICU for 44 years. I took care of patients, especially Medicare patients. They often cried and said they could not afford their meds or needed to cut their food bill,” said Wright-Mueller. “Now, I am struggling in the same ways.”
Wright-Mueller is one of more than 300 Colorado patients who have shared stories with Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW.
HB1260 would shed much-needed light on drug prices by requiring drug corporations to justify price hikes to state officials. If passed, drug corporations won’t be able to blindside Colorado patients with arbitrary price hikes. The transparency bill would:
- Require health insurance providers to report to the Insurance Commissioner a list of their most expensive drugs.
- Require manufacturers to report a range of information about drugs with a wholesale cost of $40 when they increase in price by more than 10% over 24 months.
- Require the Insurance Commissioner to make this information public.
This move toward transparency can help further discussions over how we can address prices in the long term.
Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW does not accept donations from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of prescription drugs.
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