By: Melissa R., Florida
When I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I didn’t know what the future would hold. I just knew I wanted a chance to fight.
I’m proud to say I got that chance. Thanks to a strong health care team and the right treatments, I’m here today. But the fear I felt during that time, the waiting, the uncertainty, the worry about whether I’d have access to the treatments I needed has never fully left me.
That’s why I’m speaking up now.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk in Washington about foreign price-setting policies that sound good on paper but could have real consequences for patients fighting for their lives like I once was. Specifically, I worry importing socialist-style pricing will end up limiting access to new treatments, like the ones that saved my life.
Instead of pushing policies that could put access to future cures and treatments at risk, I wish lawmakers would focus on more immediate solutions that would help tear down the barriers to care patients are facing today.
A good first place to start is making sure that insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are held accountable. Too often, PBMs decide which medicines patients can get and how much they’ll pay, steering patients to higher-cost drugs or delaying access to the treatments their doctors prescribe. Meaningful PBM reform would mean more patients get the right medicine at the right time, without delays or unnecessary costs.
Second, we need to make sure hospitals are not taking advantage of patients by charging huge markups on medicines they often purchase at deep discounts just to pad their profits. As a financial advisor, I’ve worked with families who do everything right: carefully budgeting, planning ahead, and trying to stay on top of their expenses – only to be hit with sky-high hospital bills that don’t reflect the true cost of their care. It’s hard to explain to someone why the system seems to reward institutions instead of patients.
At the end of the day, if the goal is to lower costs and help patients, the most logical place for our politicians to focus are the parts of our health care system that can provide immediate relief to patients and families without sacrificing future innovation.
