Keep calm! But let’s Get Real

By Sander Flaum, MBA, Principal, Flaum Navigators, Advisory Board Member and Executive-in-Residence, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

 

Predicting how our industry will fare in the next 12 months is presumptuous at best. After all, in just a few days, we’ll know who’s going lead the country for the next four years. Everything could change. Or, even more dramatically, everything could stay the same! But let’s not go there, as the idiom has it.

However, I am reasonably confident that our industry will be spared, at least in the near future, the draconian changes proposed every four years. As I write, both candidates are flogging pharma, their favorite whipping boy, as they thunder down the home stretch toward election day. 

But we’ve seen this before – every presidential cycle to be exact. 

That’s why I’m suggesting that Pharma leaders “Don’t panic.” Senators Sanders and Warren did their best to sell single-payer Medicare for All, but voters weren’t buying. 

If Biden wins, we’ll see Congress tinkering with the ACA and little more. 

If Trump prevails, I don’t think we’ll lose the ACA, if only because no Republican (to my knowledge at least) has yet advanced an idea of how to replace it.

That said, I believe it’s absolutely essential that we improve healthcare access in this country. Sadly, I just have no confidence that anyone in Washington has the courage or clout to enact the substantial changes that need to be made. Even more sadly, my pessimism about the federal government’s ineptness extends to managing problems such as climate change, systemic hunger, income inequality, racism, educational shortcomings, and so on. 

This leaves me with one hope – that we as an industry might be able to work as a constructive instead of a defensive force. Of course, the laundry list of crises listed above are not in our wheelhouse, but we can start doing something to improve access to pharmaceuticals. 

That’s where “Get Real!” comes in.

To begin, let’s admit that the inequity of healthcare delivery is genuine. Too many people cannot afford today’s lifesaving drugs. Too many games have been played with patent extensions and brand protection. Too many copycats have been developed simply to avoid the challenges associated with developing actual breakthroughs. Feeling defensive? Face it, if the inequities in our healthcare system weren’t real, politicians wouldn’t demonize us. Nor would we be hearing calls for single-payer systems. 

Sander Flaum

Next, let’s reject the charge that drug pricing is the culprit. One might as well say that when families go hungry, it’s because farmers charge too much for their crops. When people cannot afford necessities, it’s rarely a function of price. More often it’s a breakdown in our social safety system, compounded by unemployment and the unprecedented income inequality plaguing our country.

Finally, let’s partner with payers and providers to ensure that all Americans have access to pharmaceuticals regardless of income. That means we need to replace our current practice of cobbling together “patient access” programs. Many are little more than demeaning charities designed primarily to deflect complaints about drug prices. Too often, they force patients and physicians to jump through hoops to qualify for medicines that insured patients get promptly with minimal copays. 

We can do better than that! I’m confident that we in the healthcare and insurance industries could cooperate within our competitive environments to make sure that all patients can get the medicines they need. Once that’s done, we can continue developing breakthrough drugs with fewer concerns as to how we’ll fund R&D and more confidence that innovation will be rewarded.  

No matter what happens in November, we will still be in charge of our futures.