The Skyrocketing Costs of Prescription Meds

You should know that in New York State prescriptions costs are rigidly defined by State Law, except for the costs associated with Medicare or private insurance plans. In 2009, I tried to change that.

When I was a New York State Senator, I chaired the Senate Aging Committee and I introduced legislation which would have allowed seniors from New York to legally purchase their prescriptions from Canadian suppliers. The Committee held a public hearing and issued a report.

You should know that the legislation was killed in the Budget Committee by former State Senator Jeff Klein, and he had the support of the Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Governor David Patterson. They argued that it would hurt local businesses.

The Attorney General wrote to my Counsel, stating my bill was illegal and only Congress can pass such a law. Ten years have passed and prescription costs are higher than ever.

My dear reader, in 2019, if you were a senior using Medicare, your deductible for your prescriptions was around $3,700.00. If you needed more medicine and qualified for catastrophic coverage your deductibles were around $4,850. Imagine living on social security or a fixed income and handing over this much money for your prescriptions?

Well in 2009, former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo insisted this was a matter for Congress to solve. I don’t know of anyone in Congress right now who is working on this important issue. If I am elected to represent the 15th Congressional District I will bring the same urgency to this matter as I did in the New York State Senate.

I am Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr. and this is what you should know.