JUNE 02, 2021 • PHILLYFREEPRESS.COM • UCREVIEW.COM • 3
Pennsylvania senators revive bipartisan bill calling for transpar- Review ency in prescription drug costs UNIVERSITY
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Pennsylvania’s budget battle takes shape
Sens. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, and Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, host a panel discussion with cannabis reform activists at the state capitol on April 20, 2021. Image courtesy of the Sen. Sharif Street House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, speaks June 28, 2019, with members of the media at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. Matt Rourke / AP photo
By Christen Smith The Center Square
front line workers, $500 million for job creation grants and $200 million It’s budget season in for infrastructure upPennsylvania and lawgrades like broadband makers have just 30 days connectivity and water until the state’s newest and sewer improvespending plan comes ments, among dozens of due. other proposals. This year’s challenge, “Regardless of what however, comes not from you call it, there are a lack of funds, but rather working people across how the General Assem- Pennsylvania that need bly will spend the $7.3 that $7 billion to be inbillion in federal econom- vested, and there’s no inic stimulus it received frastructure legislatively this spring from the for it that we have seen,” American Rescue Plan. said Minority Leader The House’s highest Joanna McClinton, Dranking member says it’s Philadelphia. “These fedsimple. eral funds should not be “I think we should pay put on the sidelines. We the bills we already inshould use them wisely curred instead of spend- to help people all across ing it on new programs,” the commonwealth.” said Speaker Bryan Yearly revenue projecCutler, R-Lancaster. “To tions through April have be clear, we should never exceeded expectations play with taxpayer’s by $1.3 billion, according money. We need to be to the administration, good stewards of it and bolstered in part by sales we need to save it.” tax collections that have It’s a position unlikely come in $530 million to curry favor with Dem- higher than anticipated. ocrats or Gov. Tom Wolf. Lawmakers welcome Leaders say strategic the excess after months investment of the funds of preparing for a gapnow will help the state ing deficit carved by the move past the impacts of pandemic’s thwack on the pandemic. the job market. Senate Democratic lawmakMinority Leader Jay ers have even released Costa, D-Pittsburgh, said a package, dubbed the rare situation calls for “Pennsylvania’s New bold and dramatic action Deal,” that maps out now. where the stimulus “Let’s be clear, as we should be spent. It inare closing out the fiscal cludes a $250 million line year, we are better than item for hazard pay for
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CITY
By Dave Fidlin The Center Square
W
hen he was diagnosed with leukemia a dozen years ago, doctors told Paul O’Hara he would live, as he describes it, “a happy and normal life,” so long as he took the critically important drugs prescribed to him. Then came the sticker shock. In the early days of his diagnosis, O’Hara, a Doylestown resident, grappled with balancing the cost of monthly prescription, which he said were about the same as his mortgage payment. O’Hara eventually faced foreclosure notices and other challenges to take his medications, though his financial struggles have since improved. “I am very fortunate to live in a country that has drugs to treat these sorts of conditions,” O’Hara said at a news conference this week announcing a new bipartisan bill. “But that’s a lot to put on a cancer survivor – it’s a lot to process.” State Sens. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, and Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, have reintroduced legislation aimed at removing the cloak of mystery around prescription drug pricing. Laughlin and Street had presented a previous iteration of Senate Bill 579, though it
had not gained traction in the first go-round. If it moves forward this legislative session in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, SB 579 would require prescription drug companies to clearly break down the reason for their costs. When the issue went before state lawmakers previously, several officials within the industry pointed to research and development as a reason for the pricing. “I think we are all well aware these pharmaceutical companies provide researches that does result in lifesaving medications,” Laughlin said. “We want them to prosper and be able to continue this work. We just want to know how they arrived at these prices.” Street said he has heard from constituents who face ongoing challenges for critical prescription medications, sometimes balancing their cost with such staples as food. “Greater information will allow us to be more responsible legislators,” Street said. “We’ll never be able to get our arms around this without basic information.” Research and development – which Laughlin and Street readily acknowledged likely is a costly part of the balance sheet – is one of multiple expenses for pharmaceutical companies. The legislators’ bill also is asking for a detailed
breakdown of the costs associated with clinical trials, the amount the companies receive in grants from the government and other sources and costs related to patents and licensing specific drugs. Recent polling data suggests SB 579 would have support among Pennsylvanians. According to Altarum, a research organization, 51 percent of surveyed residents within the state said they are “somewhat” or “very” worried about their ability to afford prescription drugs. Respondents across the state also reported taking such measures as skipping doses or cutting pills in half to cut down on the cost of acquiring medications. The highest concentration – 33 percent – reported taking such measures in the northwest portion of the state. Other areas hovered around 18 to 19 percent. According Altarum’s findings, gleaned from polling late in 2020, 92 percent of surveyed Pennsylvanians said they agreed the state Attorney General should take legal action to prevent price gouging and unfair drug price hikes. “We are seeing a very similar response, regardless of party affiliation,” said Lynn Quincy, a senior adviser with Altarum. “That suggests there is a lot of support.”
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