Rule changes to Medicare Part D can deter drug innovation and reduce access to life-saving medication.

We are equally concerned with protecting older people and people with disabilities from euthanasia as with protecting the unborn from abortion. We have recognized that involuntary denial of lifesaving medical treatment is a form of involuntary euthanasia, and therefore have opposed government rationing of health care.

While we understand the goal of reducing drug costs down for the Medicare program, we believe that the proposed rules changes to Medicare Part D can deter drug innovation and reduce access to life-saving medication.

There are concerns with the proposed rule changes to Medicare Part D drug coverage and its implications on limiting access to lifesaving drugs through potential use of drug price controls. According to the proposed rule, Medicare could now “exclude a protected class drug from a formulary if the price of the drug increased beyond a certain threshold over a specified look-back period.”

The bottom line concern is that drug price controls like this can limit access to life-saving drugs. The explanation begins with the fact that drug price controls have a devastating effect on the development of new lifesaving drugs. Research and development is financed by investors, and investment in pharmaceutical development is risky. Many promising leads fail to work out and never make it to market.

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