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The distance between the politics of extreme Left politicians like Bernie Sanders and the North Carolina General Assembly may seem vast, but on one crucial issue, they have come far too close for comfort. Addressing the escalating cost of prescription drugs is a pressing concern for families across the nation, prompting elected officials to show they are working on a solution.
Socialist politicians like Senator Senators have led a campaign using Americans’ anxiety around prescription drug prices to expand the role of government in health care, on the road to Medicare-for-All style total control, by undermining competition, freedom, and choice in the pharmacy benefit market.
This is not a path any conservative in the North Carolina General Assembly should follow, or frankly entertain.
It is essential for our North Carolina lawmakers to grasp the significance of what impeding the market-based role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) would mean for Tarheel state employers, including small businesses, and for prescription drug costs in our state.
PBMs exist because employers find value in hiring them to leverage scale and market forces to deliver prescription drug savings — savings that help businesses provide quality health care coverage for their workers and drive down their own costs. These vital actors empower employers to craft plans tailored to the unique needs of their employees, serving as indispensable tools in navigating the increasingly expensive health care market. If PBMs weren’t playing a valuable role in the free market, businesses wouldn’t hire them, period.
Yet politicians like Senator Sanders believe the government knows better than the market and wants to weaken the freedoms PBMs offer employers. North Carolina cannot fall for this sort of big government, anti-market goose chase that promises lower prescription drug costs but would deliver just the opposite.
Going forward, legislators should reject proposals like HB 246, which was introduced in North Carolina earlier this year, that would use government mandates to weaken the competitive pharmacy benefit market. HB 246 plays into the hands of socialists like Senator Sanders and special interests, to the detriment of North Carolina businesses and consumers.
HB 246 represents government overreach at its worst and could have dire consequences for the thousands of North Carolinians who rely on PBMs to afford life-saving prescription drugs. By granting employers and plan sponsors the flexibility to customize their plans, PBMs deliver substantial value to the covered employees, saving nearly $800 million in negotiations in North Carolina alone, according to a recent report.
Contrary to safeguarding these savings, HB 246 proposes an additional $10.24 fee on many prescriptions in support of special interest pharmacies. This legislation’s supporters seem more inclined to invite government intervention into the pharmaceutical market at the expense of patients, rather than fostering natural price reductions through healthy competition.
The principles behind HB 246, involving government mandates, price-fixing, and selective market interference, align more with far-left radicals like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, than the values held by North Carolinians. Calls to target PBMs and support legislation like HB 246 often emanate from Washington, disregarding pro-business and free-market principles that fuel growth and stability in economies like ours. This raises the pressing question on my mind: why would North Carolina legislators even consider HB 246?
Claims that undermining PBMs will substantially and positively impact the pharmaceutical marketplace lack substance. A white paper by economist Alex Brill, founder and CEO of Matrix Global Advisors, reveals policies targeting PBMs “do nothing to address drug prices and may raise pharmaceutical spending overall.”
It is imperative that we safeguard tools like PBMs, which save North Carolinians money, rather than subjecting them to misguided scrutiny.
I urge our legislators in Raleigh to delve deeper into the root causes of rising prescription drug costs and support free market policies that effectively address those issues, rather than attacking entities in the market that secure savings for North Carolina patients and businesses.
And I certainly hope they move far away from proposals that mirror the left’s agenda to force our country towards a nationalized, socialist health care system.
Michele Woodhouse is a conservative activist and the former NC11 GOP District Chair.
