State Rep. Rodney Wakeman and the Michigan Legislature this week finalized a plan to help reduce the cost of prescription medicine in Michigan.

Wakeman, of Saginaw Township, said the average price of medication to treat diabetes, heart disease, depression and other common conditions has more than doubled over the past six years, making it difficult for people in mid-Michigan to afford the medication they need.

“The rising cost of life-saving medicine has gotten out of control,” Wakeman said. “Nearly a third of patients are coping with high costs by skipping doses or taking less than their doctor recommends. It is a heartbreaking pattern that I am fighting hard to reverse.”

House Bill 4348 will help lower drug prices by reining in pharmacy benefit managers – the unregulated middlemen who have been manipulating drug prices to make more money for themselves instead of passing along savings to consumers. The plan specifically bans certain nefarious practices pharmacy benefit managers use that put profits over people, such as charging customers more than the retail price of the prescription and collecting the overage as profit.

The plan received overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and will soon advance to the governor for her expected signature.

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