The legislature’s Human Services Committee advanced landmark legislation last week that seeks to address prescription drug affordability and access. The bill passed with a 15-7 vote after lengthy debate during an eight-hour meeting, and now heads to the Senate floor.
A 2022 study of more than 1,300 Connecticut adults from the Healthcare Value Hub found that 28% of those surveyed with household incomes under $50,000 had rationed medication in the last 12 months due to cost. Across party lines, respondents expressed strong support for government-led solutions.
Connecticut Democrats have worked to address various barriers in access to prescription drugs, including capping the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $25, allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control, and authorizing the ArrayRx discount drug program. This year, Senate Bill 11 builds upon this work through a number of provisions, including several recommendations from a legislative task force on prescription drug prices.
Senate Bill 11 seeks to address Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM), who are believed to drive up the cost of pharmaceuticals by acting as middlemen between insurers and pharmacies. The legislation creates a fiduciary responsibility for PBMs, requiring them to act in the best interest of the health carrier or other health benefit plan sponsor, thus limiting the incentive to increase prices for profit margins.
The legislation requires PBMs to disclose profits and pricing while a pricing model that compensates them based on the amount of claims they process rather than the price of drugs sold. The proposal also prohibits PBMs from charging their plan sponsor more for a prescription than the PBM paid to the dispensing pharmacy, protecting community pharmacies from monopolistic market pressure.
S.B. 11 will also focus on expanding HUSKY coverage to include GLP-1 prescription drugs, like Ozempic or Weygovy, to treat weight loss. These drugs are typically prescribed to treat diabetes, but they have been found to be effective in weight loss treatments as well. The drugs can be expensive, so the legislation also creates an advisory council to look at lowering the cost to the state.
Notably, the legislation also establishes an international drug importation program with Canada to combat prescription shortages and high prices from monopolistic distributors.
“This bill is a landmark bill to lower prescription drug prices and save taxpayer dollars and the votes tonight on S.B. 11 and the Bipartisan Prescription Drug Task Force mark an important step forward,” Sen. Matt Lesser, co-chair of the Human Services Committee, said. “I am grateful to the members of the committee for their strong support.”
