Health Care News

PORTLAND—Uninsured consumers in the Portland area pay more for common prescription drugs than what the drug companies charge the federal government, and 23 percent more than prices through the new Oregon Prescription Drug Program, according to a new report released by Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) today.

“Oregonians need relief from the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs. We’ve made incredible medical advances – but these new treatments shouldn’t be the newest divide between the haves and have nots. Expanding the Oregon Prescription Drug Program would provide savings of up to 60 percent for Oregonians – which is one of the reasons the pharmaceutical lobby worked so hard to defeat the plan,” said Governor Ted Kulongoski.

In the spring of 2006, OSPIRG teamed up with other state PIRGs across the country to survey more than 600 pharmacies in 35 cities – including the Portland area – to determine how much uninsured consumers pay for 10 common drugs used by Americans under 65. The report compares the results with prices paid by the federal government, and with Oregon’s new prescription drug purchasing pool, which uses its buying power to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices.

“When uninsured Oregonians go it alone at the pharmacy, they pay the price.” said Laura Etherton, OSPIRG consumer advocate and a researcher on the report, “With no one to negotiate lower prices on their behalf, uninsured consumers face sticker shock when they go to pay for medically necessary prescriptions.”

Among the survey’s key findings:

• In the Portland area, uninsured consumers pay more than what the federal government pays for the same drugs, ranking the city 15th out of the 35 cities surveyed.

• Oregon’s new prescription drug buying pool, The Oregon Prescription Drug Program, is succeeding in negotiating lower prices for low income seniors and some public entities. Uninsured consumers not eligible for the program pay 23 percent more on average, and as high as 43% more, for the drugs surveyed.

• The uninsured in Portland pay more than twice as much for their medication at local drug stores as they would pay at a Canadian pharmacy. The hormone replacement drug Premarin costs 520% more at Portland area drug stores than it does at a Canadian pharmacy.

• The average price paid by uninsured consumers in Portland increased by 12.5%, faster than the general rate of inflation over the two-year period between 2004 and 2006, when OSPIRG conducted a similar study.

Kathy Karppinen, an uninsured resident of Forest Grove, is now facing those high costs, “When my husband lost his job of 30 years, we lost our health insurance coverage,” says Karppinen, “My husband and I are both diabetic and take numerous prescriptions. We had been able to afford all this due to the great prescription coverage we had. I can assure you that you do not have to be 54 to be in poor health and need help affording prescription drugs.”

“Hard-working Oregonians without health insurance or prescription drug coverage are paying full price for their medications—if they are able to afford them at all,” said Maribeth Healey, director of Oregonians for Health Security.

To address the problem, the OSPIRG report calls for increasing the availability of low cost generic drugs and expanding Oregon’s prescription drug buying pool, the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, to allow more individuals, businesses and the government to use their combined buying power to negotiate lower drug prices with manufacturers.

The report comes at a time when public debate on the issue is heating up in anticipation of a measure on the fall ballot, sponsored by Sen. Bill Morrisette, to open the buying pool to all uninsured Oregonians in an effort to boost the program’s buying power to negotiate lower prices.

Jerry Cohen, chief petitioner with Sen. Morrisette on the measure, and State Director of AARP Oregon said the report provides more evidence of the high drug costs consumers face, “Senior citizens are not the only ones affected by the high cost of prescription drugs. We should expand Oregon’s Prescription Drug Program to all Oregonians.”

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Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) is a non-partisan, non-profit public interest organization with 33,000 members statewide. The report is available at www.ospirg.org

Oregonians for Health Security seeks to unite health care professionals, consumer organizations, caregivers and concerned citizens to advocate for improved access to quality, affordable and secure health care. www.oregoniansforhealthsecurity.org

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. www.aarp.org

Additional contacts:
Maribeth Healey, OHS, 503-655-2793
Jerry Cohen, AARP Oregon, 866-554-5360