It Just Makes Me Mad!

I know I was supposed to take the holidays off and start fresh in January, but this Most Favored Nation (MFN) thing that is supposed to go into effect in January has been simmering in the back of my mind and finally just boiled over. As you might remember, “this MFN thing” was an Executive Order signed by President Trump shortly after the election. Some feel it was in retaliation for the timing of the release of the Phase 3 vaccine results, but whatever the reason, it finalized a concept that has been kicked around for over a year. It is an attempt at lowering drug prices by basing the price we pay for a particular drug on the average price a group of foreign “MFNs” pays for that drug. You can click here to read more about this approach in one of my earlier blogs.

While there are many details of this executive order that are complicated and convoluted, it’s the overall approach that really bothers me. Rather than exporting our successful innovation methods that makes us the world leader in discovering medicines that save and improve our lives, we are choosing to import the rationing and price control methods of countries that don’t share the same level of concern for the patient that we do. It just seems crazy that we have suddenly decided that looking to other countries is a solution to our healthcare costs.

I know the comparison might not be the same, but I can’t help but think of the oil cartel that has a big influence on oil prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed by five founding countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Their goal was, and continues to be, the control of the price of oil to their advantage by controlling their production, much to the disadvantage of the United States and other countries. OPEC has a level of control over the price of oil and it has an impact on what we pay for gas. Why would we allow this same type of control to creep into our healthcare system? Why would we turn over the control of the prices of some of our prescription drugs to a group of foreign countries? Why does this seem to be a logical solution?

Is it fair that foreign countries should pay less for certain medicines than we do? No, but the solution certainly isn’t the capitulation of our responsibilities to foreign countries. This surrendering of control makes me mad. There are problems with how we receive and pay for our healthcare. There are changes that need to be made, but we need to look inward and correct the inefficiencies, streamline the processes, base cost on results, reward preventative care, and encourage innovation . . . rather than depend on knee-jerk reactions and superficial solutions.

Thanks for listening to my tirade. I’ll try to calm down and get back into the holiday spirit. Let’s hope for some well thought out solutions in 2021. Have a happy new year.

Best, Thair