The skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs will be the focus of a forum to be held 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 5 at the Heintz Center at Rochester Community and Technical College.
The event, "It's Time to Stop RX Greed," will be taped live from Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul and live-streamed to Rochester and locations across the state, with community conversations to follow. It will feature Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Dr. Stephen Schondelmeyer, Sen. Scott Jensen and Rep. Kelly Morrison.
A light breakfast is included. People can register at aarp.org/mn or call 877-926-8300.
Between 2006 and 2014, prices for drugs rose an average of 57 percent, and prices for drugs with no generic substitutes rose by 142 percent.
"You don't have to throw a stone very far to find people who are just getting drilled by what's going on here," said Ken Zaiken, an event facilitator.
Patient advocates say that the rising costs are pushing life-saving treatments, from cancer therapies to EpiPens, out of the reach of those who need them most.
Elderly Americans are hit especially hard. Medicare Part D enrollees take an average of four to five prescriptions a month, and their average annual income is around $26,000. Americans, meanwhile, are paying the highest prescription drugs prices in the world.
Zaiken argues that if improvements are going to take place, it will have happen at the state level.
"Right now, more is being said than done," he said. "This is not going to happen at the national level. This needs to be a grassroots effort."
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Legislation introduced at the last session proposed a range of solutions from capping out-of-pocket costs to requiring more transparency from drug companies. Proposals including imposing fines on companies whose drugs rise more than 5 percent to 10 percent in a given year.