To the editor:
As a member of the board of directors for a bank in the Badger State, I have an interest in the economic prosperity of Wisconsinites. I want to ensure employers can offer high-quality health coverage and benefits to their employees. I am concerned over proposals being considered in Congress that will increase premiums if the policy is applied to the commercial health care market.
“Delinking” legislation that changes how pharmacy benefit companies are currently compensated for successfully securing rebates from drug manufacturers will be detrimental to seniors, businesses and taxpayers across our state. Rebates determine how businesses can provide better and more comprehensive health benefits to employees. These rebates are used for lowering premiums to help decrease health care spending or even offering wellness programs that help ensure our benefits remain competitive in the current labor market.
For the commercial market, which is how most of us get our coverage, economist Alex Brill, estimates that it would increase premiums up to $26 billion every year, increasing health care costs for patients who get their coverage from their employers.
Economist Casey Mulligan estimated that “delinking” would cost patients and payers an additional $18 billion in just one year, while increasing government spending on Medicare Part D premiums $3 billion to a whopping $10 billion. This would result in higher premiums for seniors.
Additionally, just the commercial market and Medicare Part D changes would put more than $32 billion back into the pockets of big pharmaceutical companies at the expense of patients.
Ike Brannon, senior fellow at the Jack Kemp Foundation, looked into these proposals and pointed out that the legislation ignores the fact that “rebates on prescription drugs are not correlated to the prices that drug companies set, proposals to delink PBM compensation from list prices seem to assume that PBM compensation have choices on how we compensate and contract with pharmacy benefit companies … it’s unclear why politicians who generally advocate for free market policies feel compelled to push a policy that limits the prescription drug market without a beneficial outcome for taxpayers.”
We need to do something about lowering drug pricing and health care costs, but these kinds of policies will have the opposite effect. I hope Wisconsin lawmakers in Congress look at the data, speak to small business owners and recognize that “delinking” is the wrong approach to lowering prescription drug costs.
Richard Kucksdorf, Bonduel
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