From State Rep. Suzanne Ness:
Ness Supports Legislation to Increase Prescription Drug Affordability
CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. – State Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, recently supported legislation that would create a prescription drug repository program, allowing for unused, unopened prescription drugs to be donated and distributed to patients.
“Now more than ever, increased accessibility and affordability in healthcare is crucial, as many families are still facing financial instability from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ness.
“Prescription drugs often go unused or unopened for various reasons, and as the costs of prescription drugs continue to skyrocket, it’s common sense that these drugs can be recycled and available for those who need it most.”
Ness is a co-sponsor of House Bill 119, which creates the Prescription Drug Repository (PDR) program.
The PDR program allows any person or healthcare facility to donate unopened, sealed medication or medical equipment in the original, tamper-evident packaging to participating pharmacies.
Donated medication or medical equipment would then be distributed at a low fee to eligible patients.
“The Prescription Drug Repository program will not only improve access to costly drugs to individuals in need, but will also prevent these potentially dangerous drugs from being improperly thrown away or the potential health risk if those who have not been prescribed a medication gain access to it,” said Ness.
“I am proud to support this important piece of legislation that will make a major impact on the lives of many residents, as well as our environment.”
How does this legislation guarantee the chain of custody?
How often does a pharmacy have unused, still sealed drugs on its shelves?
Any inventory that sits usually is returned to the drug wholesaler they purchased it from.
Drugs that have already been dispensed to patients couldn’t and shouldn’t be recycled for many reasons, including possible tampering, loss of potency due to aging, negative effects due to uncertain storage, etc.
All those reasons and more are the reasons why previous laws have already been promulgated to prevent this type of activity.
Here is a list of the laws that need to be changed to allow this to happen:
the Pharmacy Practice Act, the Wholesale Drug Distribution Licensing Act, the Senior Pharmaceutical Assistance Act, the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, and the Cannabis and Controlled Substances Tort Claims Act.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
As dumb as everything the top person of the democrat party, Kamala Harris and her sidekick Joe are doing.
There are some red tape issues that Paul and Coffey bring up, but I think the concept is good.
Perhaps it’s a poor bill — I haven’t read the bill.
But I do think the general idea is good.
I don’t agree with bred winner that it is “dumb” to allow unopened drugs to be returned and resold to people who might need them.
You can return most unopened products with a receipt.
It sounds like it was the government in the first place that made it so that you don’t have the freedom to do that with drugs.
This is already being done all across the country by the way so it’s not like Illinois is doing some wacky communist experiment.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-prescription-drug-return-reuse-and-recycling.aspx
Did she think of this while driving around in her convertible reminding people who she is?
🎯
The pharmacies/drug wholesalers/etc. that may donate under this program may turn out to be big winners due to current tax law.
Part of my job at Baxter Healthcare decades ago was to calculate the tax benefit for donated inventory.
Here’s a generic description of the tax treatment:
“If a corporation, other than an S corporation, makes a gift of inventory, property held for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, or depreciable or real property used in the trade or business, it may deduct its basis for the property, plus one-half of the property’s unrealized appreciation. The claimed deduction, however, may not exceed twice the basis of the property (section 170(e)(3)).”
My guess, given their large markups over cost, is that all these companies will be able to max out the deduction at twice their cost basis.
It might be interesting to know which of the sponsors of this bill are getting donations from companies such as Walgreens, CVS, etc.
What could go wrong./s