Representative David Morales and House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale have introduced a new piece of bipartisan legislation in the Rhode Island state house with the aim of lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The new bill, numbered 2023 H-5350, aims to limit the out-of-pocket expenses of specialty prescription drugs for insured people to $150 per 30-day supply.
Specialty drugs are defined as complex medications used to treat chronic conditions such as cancer, hemophilia, and arthritis, and they are classified and priced by Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Despite insurance coverage, co-payments can be as high as $2,500 per month, forcing some families to make difficult financial choices. A 2016 report by the AARP found that 25% of Rhode Island residents stopped taking their prescribed medications due to high costs.
Pharmaceutical companies often own the patents of specialty drugs, which gives them a monopoly on these vital treatments and allows them to charge higher rates each year, according to a press release sent from the General Assembly Publicist. One example is Revlimid, a medication used to treat cancer that was approved by the FDA in 2005, which has seen its cost increase by more than 20 times since its approval.
The proposed legislation has received support from the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner, as well as Democratic and Republican legislators, and is being introduced in the hope that it will reduce the financial burden on patients and families who depend on these life-saving medications.
Several other states, including Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Maryland, have already passed similar legislation capping out-of-pocket expenses for specialty drugs at $150 per 30-day supply. Representative Morales and Leader Chippendale are hopeful that Rhode Island will follow suit.
“Rhode Islanders shouldn’t have to choose between food, housing, and life-saving medications. With the passage of this bill, they won’t have to,” said Jen McGarry, Rhode Island Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Advocacy Director.
The bill’s sponsors believe that with broad support, the bill will become law and help reduce the financial burden on those in need of these vital treatments.
