Posted by Michael Wonder on 02 Nov 2016
California’s Proposition 61: will direct democracy impact prescription-drug pricing?
1 November 2016 - Even in this unconventional election season, California politics has generated little national interest.
However, the country should closely follow one of the initiatives on this year’s California ballot because it may have important implications for drug pricing and policy nationwide.
Proposition 61 would direct California state agencies not to pay more for prescription drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which operates the Veterans Health Administration, pays for the same drugs. This proposal taps directly into the nation’s frustration with prescription drug price increases, including exorbitant price hikes for decades-old drugs such as pyrimethamine (Daraprim) for toxoplasmosis, sold by Turing Pharmaceuticals, and Mylan’s epinephrine autoinjector (EpiPen) for severe allergic reactions. These cases have led to a popular backlash against pricing practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found more than three-quarters of Americans believe prescription drug prices are unreasonable and a similar proportion supports federal price controls on high-cost drugs for certain illnesses.
