At a State House news conference, MASSPIRG joined The
Massachusetts Prescription Reform Coalition in launching an effort to lower
health care costs through reforming the prescription drug industry.
The Massachusetts Reform Coalition is a diverse group of
local and national non-profit organizations, community organizations,
healthcare and consumer advocates, private insurers, and healthcare providers.
Members include:
- AARP Massachusetts
- American
Heart/ American Stroke Association
- Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
- Commonwealth
Care Alliance
- Health
Care For All
- Massachusetts
Senior Action Council
- MASSPIRG
- National
Physicians Alliance
- Neighborhood
Health Plan
- The
Prescription Project
“The cost of prescription drugs is among the fastest growing
segments of health care spending.
Between 2000 and 2007 the price many of the most commonly prescribed
brand name drugs rose by nearly 50%, far exceeding inflation. These rising costs result in higher health
care premiums, threaten the stability of health care reform, and threaten
people’s ability to access the medications that they need to maintain their
health, said Deirdre Cummings,
Legislative Director with MASSPIRG.
The Coalition called on the Commonwealth to take action
against industry marketing practices that inflate the cost of prescription
drugs. Pharmaceutical companies spend
more than $7 billion annually on marketing to physicians alone. These costs get passed along to consumers and
the state through the high price of medications. The Coalition’s top priorities are:
- Restricting Industry Gifts to
Prescribers: Studies show that gifts from pharmaceutical companies to
prescribers inherently impact prescribing decisions.
- Restricting Data-Mining:
Pharmaceutical companies purchase data from prescriptions we fill to
target their marketing efforts, magnifying their influence.
- Promoting Evidence-Based Outreach: An evidence-based physician education
program (often referred to as “academic detailing”) would ensure that
prescribers do not have to rely on biased information from the
pharmaceutical industry when they make prescribing decisions. In other states, such programs have been
shown to more than pay for themselves with savings to public
programs.
