Kim Robbins is the executive director of the Delaware Pharmacists Society.
For over a decade, our country has faced a severe crisis in accessing affordable health care. There’s no exception in Delaware, where residents spend more than $12,000 per year on average on medical expenses. This stems from an increase in doctor fees, reduced insurance coverage and higher hospital costs. Further, there are few signs to show that this figure will come down anytime soon.
The price of prescription drugs has especially surged in Delaware. According to the state auditor, the inflation rate for prescription drugs here has been three times higher than the national average. As a result, countless families are being forced to pay hundreds — sometimes, even thousands — of dollars out of pocket just to access the medications they need.
The Delaware Pharmacists Society is deeply committed to serving patients by working to lower the high out-of-pocket costs associated with prescription drugs, particularly copays. It actively supports efforts to expand access to critical medications by advocating for reduced copay burdens, promoting transparency in pricing and ensuring that patients can afford the treatments they need without financial hardship. However, it is clear that there is still much work to do.
One proposed solution to combat rising prescription drug costs is the creation of a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, designed to impose price controls, or upper-payment limits, on medications. While this concept may seem promising in theory, in practice, such boards often cause more harm than good — potentially limiting access to lifesaving drugs and stifling innovation.
Granting a PDAB the authority to impose upper-payment limits could significantly reduce investment in the development of new treatments. Drug innovation is a lengthy, expensive and high-risk process. By introducing price caps, we risk discouraging biopharmaceutical companies from developing critical medications. This is especially true for smaller biotech firms, which are often at the forefront of developing innovative therapies and have the capacity to quickly bring them to market. However, implementing price controls would significantly harm their business structures by hindering their ability to attract the investment needed for research and development.
This would harm patient care in Delaware — especially for those with rare diseases. Price controls could delay or prevent new drug launches until manufacturers assess whether the pricing restrictions are feasible. This means patients could lose access to specialized or high-cost medications if manufacturers choose not to offer them under price caps. At the same time, reduced investment in drug development may further shrink treatment options for those with rare diseases who already face limited choices and significant unmet medical needs.
We’ve already seen boards in other states struggle to lower drug costs. Colorado, Maryland and others have spent years investing significant taxpayer dollars just to set up these boards, with little results to show for it. On top of that, they’ve set up the tradition where drugs could be pulled out of the state altogether, leaving patients without access to potentially lifesaving medications.
Meaningful progress has already been made in lowering the cost of prescriptions — most notably with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act under then-President Joe Biden. This law allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, requires pharmaceutical companies to provide inflationary drug rebates to Medicare and more. This will save thousands of Delawareans an average of $600 a year. Still, President Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington are working to repeal the legislation, leaving the future of it unclear.
If the Delaware legislature wants to take strong action to address health care affordability, it should tackle inefficiencies in the domestic supply chain, curb abusive practices by insurers and rein in the unchecked power of pharmacy benefit managers. These measures go beyond the limited scope of a potential Prescription Drug Affordability Board and price controls, targeting the root causes of high drug costs and delivering real relief to communities across Delaware.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
