Vermont Lawmakers Consider Measures to Reduce Drug Costs

Americans are paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world. Patients in the United States, on average, pay four times as much as consumers in similar countries for the SAME prescriptions. We know that many Vermonters are struggling to pay for their prescriptions and in fact, in 2016 18% of Vermont residents stopped taking prescription medications as prescribed due to cost.

This legislative session, AARP Vermont is working on solutions that will provide long overdue relief for Vermonters to lower drug prices and not simply shift costs around in the system, including:

Insulin price caps (S.296 and H.822) - the bill would limit the out-of-pocket expense to $100/month on insulin for Vermonters with diabetes.

Drug price caps (S.246 and H.785) - bill asks regulators to set limits on drug prices by evaluating the most expensive prescriptions.

Importing drugs from Canada (S.136) - the bill gives Vermont the ability to import the same drugs we use here from Canada for much cheaper.

Stay tuned for action on these bills. Thank you for all that you do to further AARP’s mission. If you have a story to tell about how the high cost of prescription drugs are impacting you, please submit it to vt@aarp.org and we will share it with lawmakers.