Merritt: Reform Health Care, Don’t Just Shift Costs

(Washington, DC)- In a letter addressed to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), expressed “significant concerns” about provisions in the “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” as released by the House tri-committee majority.

“PCMA supports reform, but has significant concerns about any public plan option that creates an un-level playing field or shifts costs on to competing private plans,” said PCMA President and CEO Mark Merritt.

To enhance competition and lower costs, PCMA encourages policymakers to examine several common-sense approaches that would neither restrict access to medications nor simply shift costs from public to private payers. These include:

• Real Biogenerics Reform: Real biogenerics legislation is strongly supported by AARP, AFL-CIO, the Ford Motor Company, PCMA, and dozens of other consumer, labor, and employer organizations concerned about runaway health care costs in both the private and public sectors. We need meaningful biogenerics legislation which increases competition for the world’s most expensive medicines and also delivers scoreable savings.

• Reduce waste by making formularies in Medicare Part D more closely resemble those in FEHBP. This could include eliminating so-called “protected drug classes” in Medicare. These existing Part D provisions eliminate price competition among manufacturers without providing seniors greater access to those drugs. This reform alone would save Medicare $4.2 billion over 10 years, according to CMS.

• Increase efficiency and save billions by allowing greater use in Medicare of home delivery for refills of long-term, chronic medications. Seniors appreciate the convenience and are more likely to stay on their drug regimens if their long-term maintenance medications are delivered right to their homes.