Opinion: Why US Senate must OK bill to curb soaring prescription costs

Eighty-year-old Ella of Summerville tells us that the amount she has to pay for prescriptions has gone up every year. Since she retired in 2006, her yearly cost for her prescriptions has become more than $1,200, which she can barely afford. Ella takes eight prescriptions a day and says “the costs are piling up.” 

The average annual cost of brand-name prescription drug treatment increased by 58% between 2012 and 2017, while the annual income for South Carolinians increased only 9.5%. Prescription drugs don’t work if patients can’t afford them.

That’s why the US Senate needs to pass the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act when it returns from August recess. It’s time. AARP South Carolina was disappointed that South Carolina's Sen. Tim Scott voted against lowering prescription drug costs in the Senate Finance Committee. We strongly encourage him to reconsider his “no” vote as the bill moves to the Senate floor, and we urge South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to support this bipartisan legislation.

For too long, drug companies have been price-gouging seniors and hardworking Americans. We pay not only at the pharmacy counter, but also through higher insurance premiums and the higher taxes we need to pay to fund programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Older Americans are hit especially hard. Medicare Part D enrollees take an average of 4-5 prescriptions per month, and their average annual income is around $26,000. One in three Americans has not taken medication as prescribed because of the cost.

The root cause of the problem is clear: the high prices of prescription drugs set by pharmaceutical companies when they first come on the market, which then increases faster than inflation year after year.

In March, AARP launched a nationwide campaign called “Stop Rx Greed” to rein in drug prices for all South Carolinians and all Americans. The bill under consideration in the Senate would cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and crack down on drug makers whose price hikes outpace inflation.

The nation clearly needs this reform: The average drug price increase in the first six months of 2019 was 10.5% -- five times the rate of inflation. South Carolinians, like all Americans, already pay among the highest drug prices in the world.

Meanwhile, Big Pharma is fighting for the status quo – and blocking needed improvements to the system that could bring relief to seniors, families, and small businesses. Drug giants Merck, Amgen, and Eli Lilly actually sued the Trump administration so they could keep the list prices of their drugs secret from the public. The industry is spending record sums to hire Washington lobbyists, and they are running ads claiming that more affordable drugs will actually harm consumers.

But the tide is turning. The National Academy for State Health Policy reports that, so far this year, 29 states have passed 47 new laws aimed at lowering prices for prescription medications. Thanks to State Sens, Michael Gambrell, Katrina Shealy, Mia McLeod and Sandy Senn, who sponsored a bill passed in South Carolina in 2018, pharmacists are now able to tell patients when they could be paying less for their medications.

In D.C., there is a rare bipartisan agreement that something must be done. President Donald Trump addressed the issue in his State of the Union, saying: “It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. This is wrong, unfair, and together we can stop it.”

South Carolina’s congressional delegation is in the position to lead on this issue and make a difference for every South Carolinian.

We urge the Senate, especially Scott, to pass the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act in the fall, when the House is expected to act on its own drug pricing bill.

Teresa Arnold is the state director for AARP South Carolina.