Op-Ed: Don’t count on prescription drug reform

What does it take to get a prescription-drug bill to the U.S. Senate floor?

Not much if you are Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democrats are in control. All he had to do was essentially take warmed-over ideas in the failed Build Back Better Act, put it in the form of a new bill, and it’s done. No need to take it before a committee, where Republicans are sure to muddle it up.

If you are Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and part of the minority party, it’s not so easy. He has a bill with a nice name (Lower Costs, More Cures Act) that basically is collecting dust in the Senate Finance Committee. The only sure way that bill will see the light of day on the Senate floor is if Republicans regain a majority in the Senate in this year’s mid-term elections and Crapo becomes chairman of the Finance Committee. He sees some hope for bipartisan support, if the bill gets up for committee discussion. But for now, with Democrats in charge, forget about it.

None of that sits well with Idaho’s senior senator, although he shouldn’t be surprised about the politics after serving more than 20 years in the Senate (Republicans are equally obnoxious when they are in control). Crapo recently expressed his frustrations on the Senate floor.

The Sanders’ bill, Crapo said, “is thoroughly unvetted, showing no signs of technical assistance or practical feasibility. It has not received a (Congressional Budget Office) score, or even informal analysis, or a committee hearing. It did not advance through a regular process in the Senate.”

Crapo says all the price controls in Sanders’ bill would change the health care landscape for the worse. “We would move closer to a government-run health care system, where bureaucratic price controls like these would become the norm.”

Crapo says there are “countless” studies showing that massive price controls “would slash new drug discoveries in the years to come, jeopardizing some of the highest-risk projects in particular.”

The senator says he’s all for improving prescription drug access and affordability. “We can agree on that.” But he’s looking more toward “common sense, free-market solutions,” opposed to socialistic price controls.

Crapo has some government price fixing in his bill. He wants to cap out-of-pocket spending for all Medicare Part D enrollees and set the cost of insulin at $35 a month — following up on an executive order issued during the Trump administration. Crapo’s bill also promotes insulin affordability for those in the workforce enrolled in high-deductible health plans.

Kudos to the senator for what he’s trying to accomplish with insulin; there’s no reason why prices should keep skyrocketing. But what Crapo is calling for fits the definition of price fixing — government taking action that the makers of insulin refuse to do on their own.

He also calls for the creation of a new chief pharmaceutical negotiator “who would be tasked with combatting foreign freeloading, ensuring the best trade deals possible for domestic job creators and consumers.”

In other words, it’s another layer of government bureaucracy. Just because a new government program is created doesn’t mean it will work.

And think about who that negotiator would be dealing with: Drug companies that swim in billion-dollar profits and the high-paid lawyers and lobbyists who ensure that the drug companies continue to rake in the dough.

Crapo probably doesn’t spend his evenings watching television, but if he did he would see how the drug-company hucksters are operating. The airwaves are flooded with drug commercials — and not just over-the-counter pain relievers. These are so-called “life-changing drugs” that cost consumers hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars — with each one containing a long list of potentially dangerous side effects.

These are today’s version of cigarette ads, which back in the day glamorized smoking and put hundreds of millions of people into early graves. Today’s drug ads promote pills that people can’t possibly live without — while sending consumers to the poor house in the process.

So, instead of focusing on Democrat or Republican bills that are likely to go nowhere, Congress should take a closer look at those TV ads. Even senators who are as far apart politically as Crapo and Sanders can agree that something needs to be done to contain that form of drug peddling.

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Chuck Malloy is a longtime Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com.