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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 3, 2017 10:46 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Anthony M. DeLuca |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act |
| In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation (HB 1042 of 2015) that seeks to provide for Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency. Recently, we have been fortunate to witness transformational change in the availability of life-changing and, in some cases, curative prescription drugs. This change, however, comes at a cost and the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs is an area we need to explore as policy makers. We are barraged, on a daily basis, with high cost television commercials and advertisements for prescription drugs. Some of these drugs cost consumers upwards of $100,000 per year. We are also witnessing a significant increase in the cost of drugs that have been on the market for many years, including household names like insulin, statins, epipen and countless other drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are indiscriminately raising the cost of prescription drugs without recourse, financially burdening those that need these drugs the most. In light of mounting public pressure, some drug companies have pledged not to increase the price of certain high utilization drugs; while also maintaining substantial profit margins. As policy makers, I believe that, at a minimum, we need to provide consumers with information currently not available in terms of why prescription drugs cost so much. At a time when we are all being asked to be more informed health care consumers, this seems to be a logical step for an industry that has become such a major part of our everyday health care. Please join us in supporting this legislation. |
Introduced as HB161