A new task force met for the first time Wednesday with a goal of finding ways to lower prescription drug costs.
Lawmakers said they formed the task force to find new ideas as solutions have eluded them for years.
"If we don’t address this issue, I don’t think the public is going to forgive us,” Sen. Matt Lesser, (D-Middletown) said during a press conference before the meeting at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Lesser, who co-chairs the legislature’s Human Services Committee, said the committee has bipartisan support from members of several legislative committees.
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Insulin4All state Chapter Lead Arden Parrish said people who rely on insulin have been begging for help for years.
“It really takes over your entire life,” said Parrish, who described struggling at times to afford both his insulin and his tuition in medical school.
Parrish said he even ended up in the hospital once after taking a dose of expired insulin because he had no other medicine.
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Others, he noted, had to put off buying a home to purchase medicine or resorted to getting it from black market dealers when supplies ran out.
“People with diabetes are having to sacrifice more and more in order just to stay alive,” Parrish said.
Lawmakers said more and more people experience similar struggles as prices rise for an increasing number of drugs.
“In my 30-plus years, I have seen the issue grow from a few drugs to nearly all of them,” said Sen. Jeff Gordon, (R-Woodstock) who is also a doctor.
The task force won’t provide recommendations before the legislature returns to the Capitol on Jan. 8, but lawmakers hope to have proposals sometime this spring.
They invited drug manufacturers and pharmaceutical benefit managers, professionals who negotiate drug prices, to join the task force.
“PBMs can and should lower costs by 50% or more by sharing rebates provided by manufacturers with patients, yet they choose to charge you full price at the pharmacy counter,” Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spokesperson Stami Turk said in a statement.
The PhRMA is an industry group for drug manufacturers. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a group for the benefit managers, pointed the blame right back at the manufacturers.
The price of the drug is the reason for some high drug costs, and only drug companies have the power to set prices - and they continue to set them high,” the PCMA said in a statement.
Lawmakers know it will be difficult to get unanimous support from all task force members on the full list of recommendations.
They said they simply wanted to give opportunities for the two industries to share their perspectives, but lawmakers are adamant they’ll do what’s best for Connecticut families.
“This task force will look at it from their perspective, but the bills will go through the committees,” said Sen. Saud Anwar, (D-South Windsor), who is also a doctor.
