WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — New proposed legislation could make strides towards achieving lower prescription drug costs in Wisconsin.
Former Representative Mandy Wright is supporting a new bill from Representative Debra Kolste of Janesville that would put responsibility on the state’s Insurance Commissioner to publicly declare which prescription drugs are overpriced and come up with a strategy to reduce the costs of those drugs.
Prescription drug costs were also a focus during Wright’s term as representative of the 85th District from 2012 to 2014, but reform wasn’t passed during that time. Wright says the situation has changed in two years.
Wright said, “I think, really, the urgency is what’s changing. We have had this on our radar as a problem for a long time, but suddenly people are talking about this. It’s leading to traumatic economic issues within families, very traumatic healthcare accessibility issues within families, and simply, it’s at a crisis point. It needs to be addressed.”
At a show of support for the bill in Wausau, the Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Robert Kraig, said that the critical mass of public distress around the issue makes him confident that the state legislature will pass the bill in the next session.
“I think if it’s an inside game at the capitol, the pharmaceutical lobby is extremely powerful. If it’s a public issue, where legislators are understood by the public to be voting on it, it’s very hard for them not to vote for transparency in getting to the bottom of drug prices,” said Kraig.
“This really is a matter of whether there’s enough public focus. There’s public anger at it. It’s bursting out everywhere and becoming a major issue not because it’s been introduced in Madison, but because the public is experiencing these double-digit increases every year.”
Prescription drug costs have risen 10% over the last year nationwide, according to research from the Truveris group. Wright stressed that the stories she’s heard share a common theme, people choosing between their health and their livelihood.
She said, “It’s one of those pieces where, literally, people are being trapped and left out in the cold, making horrendous decisions if they cannot access quality, affordable prescription drug care.”
Wright is aiming to get the assembly seat back in November. Her main opponent, Pat Snyder, is hesitant on what to think of the proposal of putting the weight on the state to come up with a plan. Snyder said, “I think it is a very good issue to talk about, the high cost of some prescription drugs, but to have the state oversee and regulate certain things, I’d have to look at that a lot closer.”
The bill cannot be introduced until after the 2017 inauguration, meaning Wright and Snyder are competing to be among the lawmakers to vote on it.
