Two things have been keeping drug costs high for Michigan families, and they both stem from a lack of accountability in a system that’s supposed to serve patients, not the middlemen and institutions moving money through it.
The first is Most Favored Nation pricing, which Washington keeps pitching as the fix. It isn’t. MFN targets the prices manufacturers charge overseas, not the two problems actually driving what Michigan families pay here at home.
The second and third are closer to the source. Pharmacy Benefit Managers negotiate real discounts with manufacturers, then often charge patients the same high prices anyway and keep the difference. Congress passed legislation on this earlier in the year, a good start, but real work remains to make sure rebates reach the people who need them instead of lining the pockets of middlemen. The 340B hospital program has a similar problem. Hospitals that qualify for steep drug discounts aren’t required to show how patients benefit, and too many large, profitable systems take the discounts while still charging full price. More transparency in how 340B savings get used would help the patients and communities being left behind.
Both problems come down to the same thing: savings are being generated, and patients aren’t seeing them. With Congress home in Michigan this month and an election ahead, I hope patients like me can count on our representatives to keep pushing on all three fronts, PBMs, 340B, and skepticism toward MFN alike.
Abigail Payment
Brighton
