Op-ed: Protect affordable prescription drugs for Massachusetts families

While growing up, I watched my father suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. He was a firefighter and, with few treatment options available to him, the disease led to joint damage.

Today, while there is still no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, there are many more treatment options; I wish these had been available to help my dad before he passed. This experience, plus wanting to apply my interest in science and chemistry to help people, led me to become a pharmacist three decades ago.

When I was 16, I started my first job as a cashier at a CVS pharmacy. Today, I am site lead pharmacist-in-charge and pharmacist supervisor for CVS Specialty Pharmacy in Milford. I supervise a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who help people get the prescription drugs they need to stay healthy and safe. These people manage complex or chronic conditions like cancer, autoimmune diseases or asthma, and they need the types of specialty medications dispensed at our pharmacy.

I am proud to work on the frontlines of health care with a team of dedicated pharmacists, serving our community and helping patients receive the treatment they need. Our Milford pharmacy team is deeply involved in the community, in particular our pharmacist who specializes in treatments for hemophilia. She supports the tight-knit community of hemophilia patients and their loved ones by participating in fundraising walks and other community events.

My team looks for opportunities to provide better treatment options, working with local physicians to explore treatments with lower side effects for our patients who are managing multiple health conditions. And throughout COVID-19, my team took the time to explain to patients the importance of the vaccine and how being vaccinated can help them, and our community, stay healthy.

If I, or anyone on my team, had a family member with a complex or chronic condition, I would want their pharmacist to go above and beyond for them — and that is what we do in Milford. Our patients are already dealing with the stress of managing a difficult medical condition and they should not have to worry about getting the medications they need on time or how they will pay for it.

Specialty medications, in particular, accounted for more than half of all prescription drug spending in 2020. My team and I see our responsibility as eliminating these anxieties to the best of our ability.

CVS Caremark, the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) of CVS Health serving Massachusetts residents, including employers, unions, health plans and public programs like MassHealth and Medicare, works hard to make prescription drugs affordable. By negotiating with big drug companies to save money for Massachusetts families, CVS Health held prescription drug cost growth to just 3.6% in 2021 for its clients. More than one-third of our clients saw lower drug costs than the year before.

We did this even as big drug companies continued to raise prices, in many cases at or far above the rate of inflation. These savings are possible because of our role as patient advocates, working to lower the cost of prescription drugs for patients.

This year, Massachusetts legislators are considering legislation regarding prescription drug affordability. If enacted, legislation like S. 2695 would drive up specialty prescription drug costs by prohibiting PBMs and insurers from establishing high-quality specialty pharmacy networks that are demonstrated to lower the cost of these expensive medications. If patients cannot afford their medication, many might postpone or skip their care.

The bill would also prohibit any reduction in co-pays offered in some health plans for patients who choose a lower-cost pharmacy option and utilize home delivery for their medications — removing a benefit enjoyed by thousands of people today.

While the majority of S. 2695 seeks to expand upon the state’s strong record of health care cost transparency, I hope lawmakers in Boston will reject the parts that increase costs and take away choices for patients. We need lawmakers to stand up for the patients they represent, and support proposals that address the true source of rising costs: the high prices set by big drug companies.

Dealing with a complex or chronic disease can be a stressful and trying situation. But receiving the medication needed, in a timely manner, should not be. As pharmacists, my team and I focus on eliminating these anxieties for our patients every day, but there is much more to be done. I urge our state representatives to ensure all patients have access to high-quality health care by sustainably addressing the barriers to affordability and the high list prices of prescription drugs.

Kim Morese is the pharmacist-in-charge/pharmacist supervisor at CVS Specialty Pharmacy, CVS Health, in Milford.

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Milford pharmacist concerned iover prescription drug legislation