The oklahoman: Letters to the editor

We need our lawmakers to look out for patients and families, not big drug company profits

With record high inflation taking its toll on hard-working Oklahomans and their families, times are tough and every dollar counts. Thousands of families across our state have felt the strain of increasing costs of rent, utilities and groceries, with no end in sight. In fact, from August 2021 to August 2022, cost of food increased by 11.4% (the largest increase since 1979) ,and the cost of electricity and gas increased by 19.8%. The absolute last thing we need right now is even higher prescription drug costs. 

Unfortunately, earlier this year, state legislators proposed a bill, Senate Bill 1860, that would have driven up health care costs for Oklahomans. If this bill had become law, it would cost Oklahomans close to $117 million in its first year and $1.5 billion over the next 10 years. Perhaps worst of all, this bill ignored the primary cause of high prescription drug costs — the big drug companies that set prices and reap record profits at patients’ expense year after year. 

The prices of new brand-name prescription drugs in the U.S. have been climbing by nearly 11% every year from 2008 through 2021. In a single year, big drug companies hiked prices faster than the rate of inflation on 23 of the top 25 medications most often counted on by seniors. That’s a hard pill to swallow. 

As lawmakers prepare to return to the Capitol in 2023, we need them to stand up for Oklahoma families by enacting legislation that empowers employers, unions and other organizations to advocate for their employees and drive down the cost of prescription drugs — and opposing policies that will impose harmful mandates and increase health care costs. This will help patients, small business owners and taxpayers. 

No one should ever have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for critical health care. We need our lawmakers to put patients and families ahead of big drug company profits.

— Ericka McPherson, Norman
October 9, 2022

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/2022/10/09/letters-on-inflated-drug-costs-extremism-vs-democracy/69536292007/