Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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As a physician, I see firsthand how high prescription drug costs force my patients to split pills, skip their medication and ration their care. The problem is real — and likely to get worse. But it doesn’t have to. Nevada has an opportunity to make many prescription drugs more affordable, by setting limits on the price paid for certain medications and helping prevent drug companies from price gouging families.
The Legislature is currently considering Assembly Bill 250, a proposal to cap prescription drug payments at Medicare rates for all Nevadans — including those younger than 65. This plan piggybacks on a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that allows Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices for certain medicines each year.
Such reform would be excellent news for the more than 700,000 Nevadans who suffer from cancer, diabetes and serious respiratory illness. My patients who have these diseases tell me how they struggle to pay for medication that can help keep them alive.
Cancer drugs cost upwards of $100,000 a year. A patient with asthma, typically a manageable chronic condition, may have to pay thousands of dollars for certain medications that can make the difference between living full and rewarding lives, and struggling to breathe. Diabetes patients who try to save money by splitting pills and stretching their medication aren’t taking their medications as prescribed, which puts them at risk of serious complications, including ketoacidosis, when acid builds up in the blood, poisoning the body.
While Nevadans are struggling to afford their medications, with 1 in 3 people splitting pills or skipping doses, drug companies raised prices on nearly 1,000 medications this year. Today, nearly half of all new drugs cost more than $150,000 a year. In 2008, that number was only 10%. Many drugs are more expensive than they were just a year ago, but I can assure you that they’re not magically more effective because of that increase.
Policymakers have a responsibility to find solutions that can help overcome this preventable problem and help save lives.
Under the proposal before Nevada legislators, each of us would pay no more for these same prescriptions than the Medicare patients in Nevada and around the country would pay. By limiting prescription drug costs, we can protect working Nevadans from sudden spikes in drug prices, which is especially important when Nevadans are already dealing with rising costs at the pump and higher grocery bills. In addition to saving money for Nevada families, this proposal would also reduce the state’s overall health care cost burdens because people would be able to afford their medication and take them as prescribed, resulting in a healthier population.
Drugs don’t work if people can’t take them — and too many Nevadans are not taking their vital medications because they cost too much. When people with asthma can’t afford their bronchodilators, when patients with diabetes can’t access empagliflozin, or people at risk of stroke have to forgo blood thinners, their lives are put at risk. If this doesn’t change, we’ll know who to thank: drug companies and the politicians who put corporate profits ahead of Nevadans’ health and safety.
It’s time that life-saving medicines be protected under price limits. Doctors and patients alike are calling on our leaders to stand up to pharmaceutical companies and help ensure medication is affordable for all.
Dr. Philip Malinas is a psychiatrist in Reno.
