| MEDIA ADVISORY September 13, 2020 |
Today, the Administration released the text of an Executive Order allowing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to rely on foreign governments to set prices for drugs covered under Medicare, regardless of the metrics used by those countries or implications for access to care for patients. The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), along with other prominent patient and disability advocacy groups, has consistently expressed strong opposition to this concept, as it will have the impact of limiting and delaying access to needed treatments for Americans.
PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho expressed his concerns about the Executive Order. He stated, “Patients and people with disabilities support lowering drug prices, but not at the expense of their health. In fact, we oppose any policy, put forth by Democrats or Republicans, that would undermine the protections for patients and people with disabilities enshrined in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Contrary to the spirit of the ACA, this Executive Order imports prices based on discriminatory metrics like the quality-adjusted life year, which devalue the lives of seniors, people with disabilities and serious chronic conditions. Other countries use these metrics to ration healthcare. It is dangerous to import foreign pricing policies, and the associated access barriers that come with them.”
It is well documented that patients and people with disabilities who live outside of the United States experience worse health outcomes due to their lack of access to needed treatments. In fact, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent government agency, released a report on QALYs recommending policymakers refrain from using QALYs, citing access barriers and delays to cutting edge therapies that lead to worse patient outcomes in countries like the United Kingdom. For the same reasons, the NCD called for the Trump Administration to rescind its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed an international pricing index for Medicare, and more recently, issued a statement on August 5, 2020 opposing the President’s most recent actions to import QALYs. They noted in both instances, the policies would discriminate against people with disabilities by referencing countries that make pricing decisions based on QALYs and similar metrics.
Addressing health care costs, including drug prices, is an important and meaningful effort, which should center on improving health outcomes and reducing the out-of-pocket costs of patients and people with disabilities. This policy achieves neither goal, and is in fact, simply dangerous to their health.
For additional information about the NCD report, please visit www.ncd.gov.
It is well documented that patients and people with disabilities who live outside of the United States experience worse health outcomes due to their lack of access to needed treatments. In fact, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent government agency, released a report on QALYs recommending policymakers refrain from using QALYs, citing access barriers and delays to cutting edge therapies that lead to worse patient outcomes in countries like the United Kingdom. For the same reasons, the NCD called for the Trump Administration to rescind its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed an international pricing index for Medicare, and more recently, issued a statement on August 5, 2020 opposing the President’s most recent actions to import QALYs. They noted in both instances, the policies would discriminate against people with disabilities by referencing countries that make pricing decisions based on QALYs and similar metrics.
Addressing health care costs, including drug prices, is an important and meaningful effort, which should center on improving health outcomes and reducing the out-of-pocket costs of patients and people with disabilities. This policy achieves neither goal, and is in fact, simply dangerous to their health.
For additional information about the NCD report, please visit www.ncd.gov.
