To the editor:
Congress should pass the bipartisan Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act (HR 1492) and help fix a glaring flaw of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), creating new access issues for patients and undermining the development of innovative treatments and cures.
I hope our leaders in Washington will help support and pass the EPIC Act without delay and focus on better ways to protect patients from high prescription and medical costs.
The IRA enforces price-setting policies on medications that come in the most recognizable, convenient and cost-effective form of treatment — pills — years before other kinds of treatments, such as injections or IV infusions.
As a retired healthcare professional, I know how severe the consequences can be when government gets too involved in patients’ care. In this case, it threatens the critical research and investment needed to develop the next generation of treatments and, hopefully, cures.
Meanwhile, patients are seemingly at the whim of hospitals that can overcharge them for basic medical care, often hitting them with enormous bills in the mail weeks after they receive treatment.
Between that and the insurer-owned pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who make it their business to restrict or control prescription drug access and inflate prescription drug costs, patients don’t have any hope unless Congress acts.
I urge Iowa’s congressional delegation to sign onto the EPIC Act as soon as possible and then work to address these more pressing issues.
Kelley Koch, RN, BSN, MS, Chair, Dallas County Republicans
Cumming
The EPIC Act’s only purpose is to eliminate price controls for prescription drugs. Pharmas want to raise prices without regulation. They pay lobbyists, Republicans get the story pitches from them, and out comes a letter to the editor.
Look again at the language here and the story they are trying to sell. Price controlled Pharmas can’t or won’t do research, even though it’s “critical”? If we make pills more expensive, then somehow hospitals won’t overcharge you? Unless Pharmas can charge whatever they want, you might not get your medications! You won’t “have any hope” at all. Only we can save you!
This is another one of their cons, complete with Trump-style veiled threats, imploring us once again to let the rich get richer,