Pharmaceutical prices are too high, says U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, the Oregon Democrat has been visiting drug stores around the state touting a bipartisan plan to tackle costs.
Wyden and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa rolled out a bill earlier this summer. Largely focused on the Medicare prescription drug program known as Part D, it’d protect senior citizens by imposing a spending cap.
At River Road Health Mart in Eugene, Wyden says the legislation would also require pharmacy benefit managers – or PBMs– to reveal more about discounts they negotiate between drug manufacturers and insurers.
“These PBMs are big, there’s really only a handful of them in the country," says Wyden. "They keep squeezing the pharmacy in Oakridge and the pharmacy here. There’s no question in my mind the PBMs would like to put you all out of business.”
Oregon AARP Council Member Jim Botwinis backs Wyden’s plan.
“Been fighting cancer for six plus years now," he tells KLCC. "The drugs when I first started taking them were about $6,000 a month. And now they’re over $15,000 a month.”
The bill recently passed the Senate Finance Committee, and is now headed to the full U.S. Senate for a possible vote.
Copyright 2019, KLCC.
