A lifetime career in oncology has given me a front-row seat to the challenges that patients face when it comes to accessing lifesaving medications.
With Florida’s disproportionately high elderly population, including many Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and individuals living with chronic illnesses, it’s critical that we protect and expand access to care.
That’s why it is difficult to see lawmakers like our very own Sen. Rick Scott push for proposals like the “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) pricing model, a policy that would do far more harm than good. While MFN may sound like a promising way to lower costs, it is actually a one-size-fits-all approach that threatens patient access, especially for vulnerable patient groups.
The MFN model aims to tie U.S. drug prices to those paid by foreign countries with very different health care systems. These countries may pay less for medications, but the savings come at a cost: fewer treatment options, longer delays in care, and restrictive coverage decisions often based on discriminatory value metrics.
Applying this same model to Medicare or Medicaid would reduce the quality of care available to millions of Americans. Additionally, MFN would discourage innovation, which could slow the development of new treatments and medications.
This isn’t just a Medicare or Medicaid issue — it’s a health care system issue. The ripple effects could put Florida’s vulnerable patients across Medicare, Medicaid, and 340B at risk of losing access to essential medications.
In the 2024 Legislative Session, Florida policymakers at the state level explored a similar policy as a potential “solution” to rising prescription costs. However, they quickly recognized the significant challenges this approach poses, including concerns over reduced patient access, limited treatment options, and the potential to stifle innovation and threaten the future of new cures and treatments.
Florida’s large, diverse population and complex health care landscape make it a more difficult fit, requiring deeper scrutiny and more tailored solutions.
The goal of reducing drug prices is essential and shared by all of us who advocate for patients. But MFN is not the way to get there. Rather than importing restrictive foreign pricing models, Congress should focus on fixing current issues within our health care system, such as reforming the 340B program to ensure savings are directed to the patients as it was originally intended or increasing transparency around pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) – policies that I have long advocated for to directly reduce patient costs while ensuring access and innovation is protected.
Now more than ever, patients need leaders who will protect access and promote innovation, not undermine it. That said, we urge leaders like Sen. Scott and Florida’s congressional delegation to stand up for Florida’s most vulnerable patient groups by opposing MFN policies and advocating for common sense, bipartisan solutions.
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Michelle Flowers is the founder of the Oncology Managers of Florida.
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