Access to necessary medicines shouldn’t be expensive or exclusionary for those with rare medical conditions in Colorado. But that risk and other unforeseen consequences are inherent in the Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) being currently considered.
Government intrusion in markets, despite good intentions, often harms consumers. Bureaucracies are reactive and thus move slowly. Mission creep delays progress and further complicates knotty issues.
Rather than price controls, public policy should instead focus on reforming profit-driven practices by Pharmacy Benefit Managers. These decisions impact real lives, like my friend’s brother with schizophrenia. Earlier treatment was basically a chemical lobotomy, but today’s treatment is calibrated and tailored, so his quality of life is the best it’s been in 50 years. To think what his life might be like were this state-of-the-art treatment deemed too expensive by a PDAB and Pharmacy Benefit Managers looking at spreadsheets is tragic...
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