First off, let’s get this out of the way: It’s hard to tell what Issue 2, which seeks to net state medical programs the same deals the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs gets on prescription drugs, will do to that end.
But we’ve seen the tens of millions of dollars in ads against Issue 2 entirely paid for by the pharmaceutical industry — $58 million to be exact — and that makes us want to go out and vote for the damn thing right now.
Further, we absolutely agree with Issue 2’s supporters that drugs must get cheaper, and that the soaring profits drug companies make are obscene. Voters must do something.
The group Ohioans Against the Deceptive Rx Ballot Issue — funded entirely by pharmaceutical companies — reminds us that the state could be on the hook for millions of dollars in legal fights. To which we say: Let’s go to court, then.
Yes, there is nothing in this proposal’s language that makes it clear how Ohio officials will compel the VA to divulge the deals it currently gets on prescription drugs above and beyond the 24 percent discount it gets automatically. Even if it did, the state already gets similar deals, which are negotiated and renegotiated all the time behind the scenes.
On the other hand, claims against Issue 2 run in the ads funded by pharmaceutical companies say that if drug companies lose revenue from state medical programs, prices for drugs purchased by Ohioans with private insurers will go up. They also say taxpayers will be on the hook for any legal costs caused by lawsuits against the law.
That may be true. But you have to remember that the people doing the suing and price-raising in this instance are the same people funding those negative ads. These are weird threats — you’re going to have to pay for the lawsuits we file and the markups we impose to preserve our profit margins.
We don’t like being threatened when it comes to policy decisions.
The best time and place to take steps toward lower drug prices will be when Ohio and the nation as a whole select new legislators, since many of the ones we have seem uninterested in working on holding drug companies accountable. Let’s fire them if they don’t bring solutions to the table.
In the meantime, it’s unclear that Issue 2 has any weight behind it. But it could bring about court cases in which the inner details of drug companies’ business are litigated in public. It could also inspire other states to pass similar legislation, putting more pressure on the federal government to divulge the deals the VA gets. That seems worth it, as does learning exactly why drug companies fear the legislation so badly.
THE ELECTION ISSUE
CityBeat endorses Yvette Simpson for mayor.
CityBeat endorses Derek Bauman, Tamaya Dennard, Michelle Dillingham, Lesley Jones, Greg Landsman, David Mann, Chris Seelbach, P.G. Sittenfeld and Wendell Young for City Council.
CityBeat endorses NO on Issue 1, YES on 2, YES on 3, 4, 5 and 24.
This article appears in Oct 25 – Nov 1, 2017.
