What would you do with a million dollars? It would probably help you out!
But you knew it cost that much money to run a state board that does nothing to help patients, you wouldn’t want your money wasted.
Virginia is proposing to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board - a PDAB - an effort that was vetoed by the governor last year.
The name makes it sound like they’re going to make your medications more affordable, but they don't. We've talked about how these boards currently exist in other states, and they’ve only wasted millions of dollars.
There’s no proof that patients are seeing savings at the pharmacy, and experts have warned that Virginia’s PDAB could cost $3-4m before they start putting price limits on medications.
But those limits don't help you. They're set on the manufacturer, and that doesn't stop the people in the middle (pharmacy benefit managers) from driving up the price.
Virginia doesn’t need a board that delivers nothing to help patients.
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PDABs already exist in other states, and there is no clear evidence that they have delivered savings to patients at the pharmacy counter. Patients Rising advocate Jessica Baladad explains why they don't help patients and what needs to be done.
Healthcare is often easy to pay into and difficult to understand because pricing isn’t transparent. When you go to the ER, you have no idea what you’re going to by paying when you walk out. And when you do get the bill, the numbers looks like figured you’d see on a Monopoly board.