PORTLAND, Ore. — The Federal Government wants drug makers to include drug prices on TV commercials. Portland health care advocates say the plan is a step in the right direction but doesn’t address the root of the problem.
According to the government, the top ten drugs advertised on TV cost between $535 and $1,100 a month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says the public needs to know the cost of these drugs.
"Patients deserve to know what a given drug could cost when they're being told about the benefits and risks it may have," Azar said in a news conference Monday. "They deserve to know if the drug company has pushed their prices to abusive levels. And they deserve to know this every time they see a drug advertised to them on TV."
Under this proposal, drug makers would have to list the price for any prescription drug covered by Medicare and Medicaid programs that cost more than $35.
Mark Griffith, a healthcare advocate with OSPIRG, told KGW the plan is a step in the right direction.
“We're really glad to see policy that pushing the direction of providing consumers with more meaningful information,” said Griffith. “But really, this is a situation where prices are too high and this isn’t a policy, in terms of what’s been proposed, that really goes to the root of the problem which is attacking the prices behind everything.”
The lobby group that represents 33 major drug companies said its members have agreed to point viewers to websites that list drug prices.
Azar said Monday, that plan isn’t good enough.
"Placing information on a website is not the same as putting it right in an ad,” said Azar.
If the rule is adopted after a 60-day public comment period, the HHS plans to publicly name the drug makers that don't comply.