Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a 44-year-old Gen X member, may be unlikely to wrest his party’s older voters away from 76-year-old baby boomer Donald J. Trump.
But he’s trying anyway.
Mr. DeSantis aims to reach this large and politically influential group of voters early on as the 2024 presidential election nears official rollout, and he will do so by appealing to their pockets. ing.
He has been particularly active in efforts to bring down prescription drug costs in Florida, including asking the federal government to allow cheaper drugs to be imported from Canada. This month he signed the bill He said regulating pharmaceutical industry intermediaries would cut costs.
“I think health care is too expensive,” DeSantis signed the bill in Palm Beach County. “Prescription drugs are too expensive.”
“We see a lot of bureaucracy and bureaucracy in our healthcare system,” he continued. And the people who are not actually providing value to the system are making money in it. “
The governor, who travels across the country to attend a Republican fundraiser, added a sentence about the new law to his speech.
The attempt to highlight the cost of drugs comes as Mr Trump, who is likely to be Mr DeSantis’ main rival in the Republican Party, is attacking him for alleged drug use. Supported The plan is to rebuild Social Security and Medicare, programs sacred to many older Americans. (Trump himself Expressed I had a similar feeling in the past. )
More than 60% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters are over the age of 50, according to the Pew Research Center. DeSantis’ overwhelming re-election win last year was also supported by older voters. He won 6 out of 10 votes from people over the age of 65. According to exit polls.
The issue of prescription drugs, which has seen soaring prices in recent years, reflects one of Mr. DeSantis’ advantages in the primary: his ability to push through the massive list of laws he signed this year.
But talking about drug costs also points to potential messaging challenges DeSantis could face as a candidate. The governor, who considers himself a policy expert, has sometimes struggled to articulate the topic to voters. Drug costs can be reduced by stopping funding for diversity programs in state schools, banning gender reassignment care for minors, Restrict The ability of illegal immigrants to find work and access social services.
And because he has signed so many new bills, 37 pieces in one day — Even some thoughtful Floridians are unaware of his recent attempts to cut drug costs by enacting laws regulating industry intermediaries called pharmacy benefits managers.
Al-Sarbi, 61, is a voter who may be familiar with the new law. Salvi, a cancer survivor who volunteers with Florida’s AARP, traveled from South Florida to Tallahassee to testify on three bills before Congress this year. In 2019 he Appeared Met with Mr. DeSantis at an event promoting efforts to import prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. But he had never heard of the law covering pharmacy benefits managers.
“What is it?” Salvi said in an interview. “Every time I go to a pharmacy, there is a pharmacist. I have never seen a pharmacy benefits manager.”
“The problem with the message is that people can’t understand it because people have to know how the supply chain works,” he added.
Pharmacy Benefits Manager We work with pharmaceutical companies, insurance plans, and pharmacies to provide patients with discounted medicines. But patient advocates question whether benefits managers are getting enough passes. It saves the consumer. All 50 states want bigger surveillance According to the National Academy of Health Policy, one of them
Industry lobbyists contend that benefits managers aren’t helping consumers. And Florida’s new law, passed with broad bipartisan support, won’t cut drug costs, they say.
When DeSantis discusses the issue publicly, it can sometimes come across as murky. Before delving into practices he downplays, using jargon like “arbitrage opportunities” and “vertically integrated entities,” he argues that benefits managers I tend to be short on how I believe it hurts both. He often refers to pharmacy benefits managers by the acronym “PBM.”
The governor’s office argues that if voters aren’t aware of the policy change, it’s the press’s fault.
“Is it possible that people are missing out on Governor DeSantis’ greatness because media outlets like The New York Times have chosen to expand only on perspectives and stories that promote leftist policies? DeSantis’ spokesman, Brian Griffin, said in an email. (Mr. Griffin participated in the governor’s political activities “We’ve been holding press conferences nearly every day for the past two weeks touting the governor’s record number of legislative accomplishments in this Congress. The problem isn’t with us.”
Those studying the issue say they believe DeSantis’ plan could have a real impact on drug pricing and transparency, especially compared to Trump’s efforts. When Trump was in the White House, he tried to get rid of kickbacks to pharmacy benefits managers, arguing they inflated the prices of medicines.but he eventually dropped the issue most of his term.
“Trump’s plan was substantial. But it ended up barking rather than biting,” says the Ohio-based firm, which focuses on drug pricing education and research. said Antonio Chacha, CEO of 46 Brooklyn, a nonprofit that puts “DeSantis’ plan is more like a bite than a bark.”
Florida’s new law allows state advocates to file complaints against consumer and pharmacy drug brokers. State regulators will also have broad enforcement powers, including the power to impose hefty fines and revoke the rights of pharmacy benefit managers to operate pharmacies in Florida.
The state will also be able to inspect contracts by benefits administrators involved in nearly any business. Every stage of drug pricing. His three biggest intermediaries, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, majority of market.they under shared ownership With insurance plan and possibly retail pharmacies. for example, Owned by CVS Health CVS Caremark, CVS Retail Pharmacy Chain, Health Insurance Company Etna.
“This oversight should help shed light on the drug pricing black box,” said Orlando-area Republican Senator Jason Brodeur, the bill’s proponent.
As President Biden Popular with older voters And he pushed forward with his own plan to cut drug prices. However, his government blocked Florida and other states to ban Canadian drug imports, led by DeSantis to Sue The Food and Drug Administration last year passed a bill allowing the importation of Canadian medicines four years ago in Florida.
DeSantis recently said, “The Biden administration and the FDA have put a hold on buying drugs from Canada because it’s not safe.” “They are just interfering with pharmaceutical companies.”
FDA spokesperson Carly Kempler said the FDA “does not want the proposed imports to pose additional risks to public health and safety while achieving significant cost savings for covered products for U.S. consumers.” “I have a duty to guarantee that
For now, DeSantis appears to be still workshopping messages on prescription drugs.
Stopping in rural Wisconsin, he made a brief reference to the pharmacy benefits administrator law.
“We have moved to hold big pharma accountable by shedding light and curbing things like pharmacy benefits managers who make expensive drugs expensive,” he said.
The audience erupted in cheers and gentle applause when Mr DeSantis explained the bill that would allow the death penalty for sexual violence against children, which he signed into law.
