HOUSE HEALTH COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE STUDY PHARMACEUTICAL PRICING AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF RISING PHARMACEUTICAL PRICES.

     WHEREAS, according to the Kaiser family foundation, pharmaceutical costs have been increasing an average of eight and three-tenths percent per year since 1994, far beyond the regular rate of inflation; and

     WHEREAS, health care expenditures constitute an increasing percentage of the state budget; and

     WHEREAS, seventy-six percent of Americans say their top health priority is ensuring that high-cost pharmaceuticals used to treat chronic conditions remain affordable, according to a Kaiser family foundation poll; and

     WHEREAS, even for patients with insurance, the average out-of-pocket expense still averages twenty percent to twenty-five percent of the cost of prescription drugs; and

     WHEREAS, for specialty pharmaceuticals used to treat conditions such as hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis, the pharmacy benefits manager express scripts predicts spending will rise twenty percent per year, more than four times the cost of health care overall; and

     WHEREAS, there are market middlemen called pharmacy benefits managers that operate without much transparency; and

     WHEREAS, a number of states have taken action to control the prices of pharmaceuticals;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the director of the legislative finance committee be requested to study pharmaceutical pricing to determine ways in which the state of New Mexico can take action to mitigate the effects of rising pharmaceutical prices; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative finance committee be requested to report its findings and recommendations for mitigation of rising pharmaceutical prices to the governor, the human services department, the office of superintendent of insurance and the legislative health and human services committee by October 1, 2016; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the chair and vice chair and the director of the legislative finance committee, the secretary of human services, the superintendent of insurance and the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee.

- 3 -