Scanlon statement on final passage of drug price transparency bill 5-8-18.doc
Uhlinger, Dan
May 8, 2018
The Connecticut General Assembly
PRESS RELEASE
SCANLON APPLAUDS SENATE
PASSAGE OF DRUG PRICING
TRANSPARENCY LEGISLATION
Bill For Curbing Price Increases Goes To Governor
HARTFORD – Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) praised the Senate Tuesday after voting unanimously for final passage of legislation he introduced with Comptroller Kevin Lembo to curb increasing prices for prescriptions, the fastest growing cost in healthcare.
Scanlon, the House chair of the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee, issued the following statement:
“The Senate’s unanimous passage of this bill brings us one step closer to finally holding drug companies accountable for large price increases and attaining our ultimate goal of lowering prescription drug costs for Connecticut families.
“The groundbreaking transparency requirements we fought for will force drug companies to explain and justify increases when the price of a drug jumps by 20 percent in one year or by 50 percent over three years.”
The legislation also requires:
1. Information about new drugs in the FDA approval pipeline so we can better plan for new drug spending on the state employee plan and Medicaid.
2. Insurers must include information on the top 25 highest cost drugs, top 25 with greatest increases and the portion of premium that increased because of drug spending on plan when they file their rates with the state Insurance Department.
3. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) must disclose rebates they received from drug companies and amount of rebate they passed onto consumers versus the amount they retained. Connecticut would become the first state in the country to require this.
4. Insurers must either provide consumers with point of sale rebate at pharmacy counter or certify that they are using rebates to lower premiums.
Contact:
Dan Uhlinger
House Democrats
860-240-8575 (o)
860-805-6607 (c)