Current laws have tied the hands of our state medical programs by denying them the right to negotiate medication prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. We tell them that they will have to take what they can get and deal with the price gouging. So in turn, the state programs have to constantly judge which brand is cheaper and take medications on and off formulary because they cannot simply negotiate prices like other insurance companies have the freedom to do.
Patients are being prescribed what the state will pay for and not the medication that is going to treat their condition the best. It is time to demand that our state programs have the ability to fight for fair pricing in the name of their patients. The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017 was introduced to the Senate in July 2017 and has yet to be approved.
Now is the time to call any of Washington’s 10 House representatives and encourage them to push this issue for the health and safety of our patients. Now is the time to call for action on the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017.
