Prescription Drug Affordability Resolution
To endorse the Prescription Drug Affordability Resolution on behalf of your organization, please fill out the form below.
WHEREAS, to protect our lives and our well-being, every person and family in Illinois requires access to affordable prescription drugs;
WHEREAS, skyrocketing costs are making some medicines virtually inaccessible to our families and neighbors;
WHEREAS, nationwide prescription drug prices on average increased by almost 31.6% from 2016-2022;
WHEREAS, nearly 90% of seniors rely on prescription medication and nearly 1 in 4 find it difficult to afford their prescriptions;
WHEREAS, 54% of Illinoisans surveyed in 2020 worried about affording the cost of their prescription, and 28% of those surveyed had cut a pill in half or not filled their prescription due to the prohibitive cost of prescription drugs;
WHEREAS, the same survey found that 80% of Republicans, 90% of Democrats, and 86% of independents believe the government should create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to examine the evidence and establish acceptable costs for drugs;
WHEREAS, Illinois should continue to lead the Nation in addressing the affordability of healthcare, building on the State’s critical legislation to cap insulin copays, protect health insurance consumers from unfair premium hikes, and ban price gouging of generic and off-patent prescription drugs.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the undersigned organizations support creating a new Prescription Drug Affordability Board to determine how to best make prescription drugs more affordable for Illinoisans, including by: examining the entire drug supply chain, including the role of drug manufacturers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), and establishing upper payment limits for expensive drugs that create significant affordability problems for Illinoisans, building upon Illinois’s successful tradition of advancing healthcare affordability.