Lawmakers call for lowering prescription drug prices
He has health insurance through his employer,
Noble, 29, was diagnosed at age 5, and has taken the same insulin -- Humalog, manufactured by Eli
What Noble doesn't understand is why the drug he has taken for 24 years has skyrocketed in price, especially since it hasn't changed since he started taking it.
Noble said the price was
The result has been a deadly outcome for some living with type 1 diabetes, Noble said, because they were forced to ration their medications so they could afford basic expenses, like food and housing.
Noble, who lives in
"I'm scared, because it could have easily been me," Noble said. "I see myself in those people."
Noble also works as a campaign organizer for Health Care for All, a nonprofit advocacy group pushing for quality and affordable health care for all state residents.
On Thursday at the
Findings include: 36% of
PerryUndem, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted the survey.
The results come as a bill calling for lower prescription drug prices winds its way through the State House.
"It really is a black box," said state Rep.
State Sen.
Nearly 90% of survey respondents want state lawmakers to make prescription drugs more affordable.
To get there, the bill authorizes the state
Barber said some new drugs to fight rare diseases are naturally expensive. But in cases like insulin and EpiPens that have been on the market for years, but experience a sudden spike in costs, she believes there needs to be greater public understanding of why that happens.
"We need to get under the hood (of drug manufacturers)," Barber said.
The bill also requires pharmacists to inform customers if it's cheaper to buy a drug at retail price instead of using insurance, and reins in what it calls "abuses" by pharmacy benefit managers -- middlemen who negotiate drug prices between manufacturers and insurance companies.
Pharmacy benefit managers would be licensed by the state
Permanent funding for HPC and state
Another of the bill's components -- permanent funding to provide tools to boost MassHealth's ability to negotiate lower drug prices -- was included in the compromise state budget approved last week. It requires Gov.
As for the bill's status, the Health Care Finance Committee held a hearing earlier this year, and Barber is hopeful the Health Care for All-sponsored survey will boost support.
"Good conversations (about the bill)" are happening with insurance companies, Barber said.
The same can't be said for the status of talks with drug manufacturers.
"I don't think they're really in favor of (the bill)," Barber said.
Noble worries about patients paying out of pocket, faced with the hard choice of using limited dollars for medications or food.
"Needless deaths," is how Noble described those dying because they have to make those choices.
"There's not a justifiable reason for drug prices being so high. I hope (state) lawmakers will do the right thing, and start enacting some of (the bill's) solutions.
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