Big Pharma's Greed Is Fueling Inflation: Troy N. Miller

- Opinion, By Troy N. Miller, Charleston Gazette- Mail, Dec. 15, 2021.

If Senator Joe Manchin, D- WVa. wants to tackle the kind of inflation that kills West Virginians every year, he must immediately vote "yes" on Build Back Better.

Even in previous years of relative low inflation, pharmaceutical drug manufacturers have greedily hiked prices year after year after year. In 2019, for instance, the nationwide inflation rate was under 2%, but the prescription drug prices ballooned by 10.5% on average - more than five times the rate of inflation. A more specific index of just 3,400 drugs increased by 17% in the first six months of 2019 alone.

These skyrocketing prescription drug prices are bankrupting, and even killing, West Virginians, especially senior citizens, people on fixed incomes and people with disabilities. TheSeniorList.com reports that West Virginia is the fifth most epensive state for per capita prescription drug spending coming in at just under $2,000 per person per year. Ninety percent of West Virginians are on a prescription drug or live in a household with someone who relies on a prescription drug.

And, according to healthinsurance.org, as of September 2020, about one out of four West Virginians is on Medicare, the average for the rest of the country is around one in five Americans, meaning that West Virginia would especially benefit from Medicare being able to negotiate lower drug prices on prescription drugs. These runaway drug prices can force tough - even potentially deadly- choices for people on fixed incomes. For instance, AARP reports that as recently as 2017, 24% of West Virginia adults reported skipping a dose or rationing doses of their prescription drugs.

Additionally, more than 35,000 children in West Virginia are being raised in households where grandparents are the primary caregivers.

As Marion Country Schools Superintendent Donna Hage told the Times West Virginia earlier this year, "many times, these families are making decisions between their own nuitritional needs, medication needs or health needs, just so they can support these children in their care." West Virginia mother Mindy Salango recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act. Salango told congressional members that, after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, she found that she was "paying outrageous amounts of money in order to live.."...

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- Troy N. Miller is the West Virginia organizer for Social Security Works. https://socialsecurityworks.org/