AHIP’s Durham: Facing a public health crisis, stakeholders have to act responsibly
Yesterday, on the Nightly Business Report, PBS took an in-depth look at specialty medicines in America, and asked the question, “Why are prices for some specialty drugs so high and what if anything can be done about it?” As part of the segment, AHIP’s Executive Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs Dan Durham was interviewed about the challenge. His comments are below.
“We’re facing a public health crisis in this country with hepatitis C, and to deal effectively with that type of crisis, stakeholders need to react responsibly. Price gouging is not acting responsibly. Charging $1,000 a pill – $84,000 for a course of treatment – is not acting responsibly. Asking for a blank check is not acting responsibly.
“The growth in prices that we’re seeing for these specialty medicines is simply unsustainable. It’s unsustainable for family budgets. It’s unsustainable for small businesses that are providing health coverage to their employees. And its unsustainable for taxpayers that are funding important programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
“Health plans do everything they can to hold down premiums. And part of that involves negotiating the best price they can for the consumers that they serve. And when you have a monopoly, as we do in this case of a specialty medicine that has no competitors, there’s no leverage to negotiate that kind of lower price. And so it becomes difficult and very challenging to ensure that patients have access to these kinds of medicines.”