With prescription drug bills, Vermont lawmakers hope to lower pharmaceutical prices
VTDigger
Vermont lawmakers are hoping that new legislation headed to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott will help patients afford prescription drugs, as rising pharmaceutical prices push up health care costs across the state.
As legislators scrambled to wrap up the legislative session earlier this month, they passed two bills that aim to reform how prescription drugs are priced and distributed.
“We’ve known about the impact that skyrocketing prescription drug costs have had for years,” Rep. Mari Cordes, D-Lincoln, the clerk of the House Health Care committee, said in an interview. But “because there’s so much market consolidation and so much vertical and horizontal integration (of health care companies), it’s just been it’s been so hard to get at that and get inside the black box and have any real power to do anything about it.”
Now, lawmakers are seeking ways to open that black box — and slow the growth of drug prices.
Increasing pharmaceutical prices are driving up costs across Vermont, even for people with no prescriptions.