Democratic leaders in Vermont are promoting their political agenda for 2001 calling for deep discounts on prescription drugs or threatening state price controls. They are advocating an emotional solution at the expense of medical effectiveness and common sense.
Rep. Henry Holmes claims “Senators Rivers and Shumlin continuously call for price controls and that could jeopardize the development of miracle drugs you and I might need. Also, both criticize drug companies for excess profits but according to Dr. Vedder at Ohio State, if you tax their profits 100%, health care costs would decrease only 2%. It’s pure politics and Rivers and Shumlin should be ashamed.”
“Medical breakthroughs in prescription drugs have revolutionized our health care industry,” said Rep. Frank Mazur, (R. South Burlington). “Diseases and ailments, which required lengthy hospital stays a decade ago, can now be treated with medication. Our quality of life has improved and these advances have saved millions.”
According to Mazur, drug companies spending about $500 million for each new drug and only 1 out of 10,000 drugs makes it to market. They’re not charitable organizations and must make a profit to pay for research.
“History has shown that price controls create scarcity, lessen innovation, decrease quality and increase bureaucracy,” said Holmes. “It happened with gasoline in the 1970's and with rent control in New York City. It’s not realistic to think that government is the answer to make drugs cheaper.”
Mazur says that “Senator Shumlin points out it’s wrong for people to pay different prices for presctiption drugs. Is it wrong to charge children less than adults at a movie theater or for restaurants to charge seniors less than adults for meals? That’s not discrimination but market based economics that promotes efficiency.”
Both Holmes and Mazur pointed out that it’s a lot cheaper to sell in large quantities and encourage group purchases of drugs to lower costs and promote tax credits for drug coverage. They think patent and insurance regulatory reforms are needed to encourage the development of new medical technologies. They also recommend holding the FDA responsible for faster review times and developing consistent regulations and data requirements with foreign regulatory authorities.
As pointed out by those who testified in the legislature this past year, there is a serious constitutional issue with any state regulating prescription drugs. They indicated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution prevents states from deciding how much a product will cost in Vermont or any other state.
Rep. Frank Mazur
South Burlington