MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin All Copays Count Coalition representing thousands of patients and health advocates statewide today urged state lawmakers to hold hearings and votes as soon as possible to pass Cole’s Act, legislation to end PBM copay accumulator programs that inflate patient prescription costs. A large bi-partisan group of 20 state senators and 31 state representatives already support these bills, and they are poised for action now to avoid delaying action for another year making patients suffer and only benefiting insurers’ bottom lines, per the group. A total of 25 states have already passed similar efforts holding PBMs accountable and making all copays count nationwide.
Wisconsin All Copays Count Coalition leader Rob Gundermann and Bill Schmidtknecht, whose son is the namesake of the bills, offered remarks at the State Capitol urging bipartisan action.
“My story is one of urgency and personal experience as my son would still be here if not for predatory Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) policies by insurers that dramatically increased his inhaler cost from $70 to $500 at the pharmacy,” said Schmidtknecht. “When Cole couldn’t afford his prescription, he left the device there. Later, he had an asthma attack and died. It should never have happened. Cole experienced what many patients statewide suffer with from PBM policies that refuse to let all copays count. They are devastating individuals and families like ours with their unfair copay accumulator policies that force patients to pay twice for their medications. Bills SB203 and AB173 will finally hold PBMs accountable and end this practice. My family’s wish in this New Year is for everyone to help urge legislators to make their own resolutions to please pass Cole’s Act now!”
Patients are appealing to families and individuals statewide to use a QR code or go directly to www.WI4Patients.com to contact their local legislators and make passing these bills a top priority this month so appropriate action can be taken to vote the bills into law.
“We need legislators to pass these bills now because both legislative sessions end soon – the Senate in March and the Assembly in February,” said Gundermann. “Any delay will mean greedy insurers get yet another year to hurt patients – pricing them out of lifesaving medications with an unfair PBM insurer policy. We are hopeful others will join us in delivering their own messages at our www.WI4Patients.com website and ask legislators to pass these bills to fulfill a New Year’s resolution we can all support – protecting the health of everyone before it’s too late!”
The public may take action at https://www.wi4patients.com/take-action or by using the QR code below:
