BAC FUNDS ADDRESS BENEFIT CHALLENGES:
Focus on New Regulations and Rising Costs

From the private sector to the public sector, pension and health funds were put to the test in 2003 due to skyrocketing prescription drug and medical costs, new regulations governing funds, and the continued fallout from stock market losses during the last three years. In October, Local Union trustees and staff attending the 2003 Trowel Trades Trust Fund Educational Conference heard from the experts on how to address these issues, asked questions and shared experiences.
One area that prompted considerable discussion was the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs.

BAC Secretary-Treasurer James Boland directs a question to Greider at the 2003 Conference.

“The Big Fix”
Katharine Greider, author of The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers, opened the meeting with a detailed presentation on what has caused the unprecedented rise in the cost of prescription drugs, including sobering statistics on how we may not be getting our money’s worth. “America’s ‘free pricing’ and lack of a system to guide consumers toward the best drug for the money make it the pharmaceutical industry’s most important market,” Greider told attendees. In support of this point, she cited the following facts:

• Americans make up about 5 percent of the world’s population, but account for about half of the global pharmaceutical industry’s sales and an even greater percentage of its profits.
• Americans pay 67 percent more than Canadians for the same drugs, and the price difference between the U.S. and Europe is even greater.
• Prices on the 50 drugs most prescribed to American senior
  citizens rose last year at a rate about three and one-half times
  the rate of inflation.

Given these facts, she told attendees it is not surprising that one out of every four Americans surveyed are “very worried” about their ability to pay for their prescriptions, and nearly three out of ten said they failed to fill a prescription because of cost.

Are We Buying Better Drugs or the Image?

Author Katharine Greider addresses the 2003 Trowel Trades Trust Fund Educational Conference.

Greider emphasized that consumers have to be better informed and become more vocal before matters improve. Using the drug Prilosec as an example, Greider noted that its marketing campaign convinced consumers that “the Purple Pill is for just about anyone who breathes.” With one sales representative for roughly every eight doctors in America, it is not surprising that in a short time, Prilosec became the country's best-selling drug. This level of marketing, according to Greider, is unheard of in other countries. In Canada, for example, new drugs have to be priced in keeping with others in the same therapeutic category unless they are judged truly innovative – in which case they must be priced in keeping with an average price of the same drug in six European countries and the U.S. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, no consumer advertising is allowed and there are tight restrictions on how much revenue drug makers can funnel back into marketing. Doctors are encouraged to prescribe the drug that is best for the patient and are routinely given information on the comparative value of drugs.

In closing Greider noted that union members understand the need for information and the importance of large groups negotiating for better rates. “We need an institution that will negotiate on our behalf… you can’t negotiate individually with big companies.”