A proposal backed by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and PhRMA, the drug industry’s lobbying group, would allow an estimated 75,000 uninsured people here to get prescription drugs for the same price paid by the state through its health plan.
Dubbed “Rhode Island’s Best Rx,” the concept is based on a program in Ohio that provides discounts of 32 percent, on average, off drugs’ retail price.
To finance the discounts for Rhode Islanders, the state would set up a fund made up of rebates paid by drug manufacturers – matching rebates they provide for the same drugs when purchased by state workers – as well as grants and investment earnings.
Uninsured Rhode Islanders with incomes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty line – $41,500 for a family of three in 2006 – and any uninsured person over age 60 would be eligible to apply for a card from the R.I. Department of Health.
The cards could be used to get the discounted price when filling a prescription at any local pharmacy, and possibly also through a mail-order system. The state would reimburse the pharmacy for the lost revenue.
“Rhode Islanders need help with prescription drug coverage, and they can’t wait any longer for Washington [to act],” said state Rep. Paul E. Moura, D-Providence, chief House sponsor of a bill to create the program. Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, sponsored the bill in the Senate.
“The uninsured are the ones who can least afford prescription drugs, and they pay more than anyone else,” Moura added. “This program we are unveiling today will provide them with the relief they will need.”
Ohio’s “Best Rx” program was created through an Ohio AFL-CIO and PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) collaboration. The idea to adapt the concept for Rhode Island started with the local AFL-CIO.
Moura, who works for the union, said previous efforts to make prescription drugs more affordable in Rhode Island had faced strong opposition by the drug industry, and it was clear that “the only way you’re going to address the issue of affordability is with them at the table.”
Kurt Malmgren, PhRMA’s senior vice president for government affairs, said drugmakers also felt a need to collaborate with their longtime critics, because they recognize that affordability is a real issue.
“It may sound corny, but nobody should go without the drugs that they need,” Malmgren said in an interview. “And secondly, many of these people don’t buy pharmaceuticals now, or don’t get the proper care. If this incentivizes them to get care, it’s not only good for them – it’s new business for us.”
This approach is also better, Malmgren added, than “having a big bureaucracy imposing their will on us.”
Also backing the measure is the R.I. Alliance for Retired Americans.
