Chrissy Buteas, President and Chief Executive Officer of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), has issued a statement regarding President Trump’s proposed healthcare plan. The proposal includes mandatory price controls aimed at reducing costs for patients.
Buteas expressed concern about the potential impact of these price controls on medical innovation. She stated, “Lowering costs for patients is among the highest of priorities, one that must be coupled with the continued discovery of new, revolutionary ways to save patients’ lives from cancers and other dreaded diseases. Today’s proposal of mandatory price controls would cripple our ability to find those new treatments and cures.”
She also addressed the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in drug pricing. According to Buteas, “One way to immediately and easily lower costs is to require pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to take the billions of dollars of rebates they receive, and pass them on to patients – instead of keeping it for themselves. While we applaud the proposal for barring PBM payments to large consulting firms, PBM reform should go much further. These middlemen line their pockets by overcharging patients and employers, and it’s time for federal and state policies to prohibit this unethical PBM profiteering at the expense of patients.”
Buteas concluded her remarks by highlighting New Jersey’s leadership in drug discovery: “New Jersey leads the world in drug discovery and curing diseases. There are smart ways to lower costs without jeopardizing future treatments and cures, and we will continue working with policymakers in Washington and Trenton to enact those smart approaches for patients and human health.”
