U.S. Sen. Al Franken hosted a roundtable discussion Monday morning in Brainerd with the goal of learning more about how rising prescription drug costs are affecting area seniors.
About a dozen health care professionals, volunteers and local residents shared their stories with Franken and brought up numerous problems with rising prescription drug costs.
Hopefully, Congress will pass legislation this year to address rising prescription drug costs, Franken said. To that end, he has reintroduced the "Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act," which would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Leveraging the purchasing power of 39 million Part D Medicare members would secure lower drug prices for seniors. The goal of this act is to rationalize prescription drug costs, Franken told the Brainerd Dispatch following the meeting, as well as lower them.
"You shouldn't have to choose between taking your medications and not," Franken said. "And when people don't, it causes complications and it ends up costing more."
Sometimes solving a small problem creates more complexity in the system, Franken said. The "Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act" would solve a larger problem and bring down prescription drug costs for a large number of people, he said.
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"We have to try to make the system simpler and more rational," Franken said.
People can become overwhelmed by the health care system and simply tune out, Franken said, and not pay attention to their care, which isn't good.
"You want a patient to get a pretty simple understanding of how their meds work," Franken said. "And an affordable way to do it."
Briana Pulkrabek, pharmacist with Thrifty White Pharmacy, said when she tells her customers the prices of their prescription drugs, they gasp or say they can't afford their medication this month.
"People not taking their medications due to cost and that of course leads to a whole bunch of problems," Pulkrabek said. "You don't see it every day, but you probably see it every week."
Mike Cranny with Home Instead Senior Care previously worked for the Good Samaritan Society for 30 years and joined the Home Instead team 12 years ago to help seniors stay in their homes, he said. There's a lot of issues with medications in homes, he said, an issue he'd like to see addressed.
Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are taking too much power away from physicians, Cranny said. A physician knows best what medication is good for a certain patient, he said, not an insurance company.
"I think you need to put the power back into the medical professional's hands," Cranny said.
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Jane Brink, who works with the Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care through the Minnesota Board on Aging, said she sees a lot of fear from seniors who aren't sure how to pay for prescription drugs as well as essentials like food.
Randy Brenny, pharmacist at Essentia Health-Brainerd Pharmacy, said he spends a lot of time finding medications for patients they can also afford. There's a variety of government-provided health insurance programs out there, he said, but the playing field isn't level.
"Some patients can take advantage of them, and some can't," Brenny said.
"I want to try to understand this," Franken responded. "How are these programs inflating the costs?"
Jeannine Henn, Senior LinkAge Line advocate for Cass, Crow Wing and Wadena counties, said she spends 75 percent of her time working with clients who are looking for Medicare plans and ways to pay for their prescription medications.
"What I've noticed lately is the complexity of the cases has increased dramatically," Henn said. "These are three very needy counties."
The number of people with diabetes going without insulin because of the high cost is astounding, Henn said. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is another disease without many cheaper, generic medications available, Brenny said.
"So when people are in these types of situations, there's not a lot for Briana and I to be able to do to find a cheaper or cost-effective alternative," Brenny said.
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Two members of Franken's office in St. Paul held a listening session on rising prescription drug costs in March of 2016 at the Crow Wing County Land Services Building. Al Martin of Merrifield was at that session, as well as Monday's roundtable. His problem last year didn't seem as bad as the problems facing other attendees, he said. This year, he's on a different health insurance plan which sounds fair, he said, but he hasn't had to use it yet.
Charlotte Fisher worked as a nurse practitioner for the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center before retiring. She pays less for medications because of the VA's ability to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, she said, and wishes others could take advantage of that.
"One of my concerns about drugs is I think we over medicate our seniors," Fisher said.
Everyone involved in the roundtable discussion is conservant in the complexities of the issue Franken said.
"Have you heard of any policy that's been suggested to simplify all this?" Franken asked.
The country's population is aging and there's not enough geriatricians who are specially trained to meet the needs of older adults, Henn said. Student loan forgiveness programs would be a good way to drive more medical students toward becoming geriatricians, Franken said.
Jerry Johnson, a volunteer with the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership, said he works to explain Part D Medicare to seniors.
"The health program for seniors is a mess," Johnson said. "You've got a big job."
