Lawmaker joins with Arthritis Foundation to hold event
State Rep. Jehan Gordon (D-Peoria) is joining with the Arthritis Foundation of Greater Illinois to host a forum on understanding specialty tier medications on Tuesday, June 7 at 9:30 a.m. at the RiverPlex Recreation and Wellness Center, located at 600 NE Water St. in Peoria.
“Specialty tier medications place a significant financial burden on people with chronic illnesses, which result in some patients having to stop taking their prescribed medication because they simply cannot afford it,” said Gordon. “It is absolutely unacceptable that we have categories of drugs that seem to be virtually unregulated when it comes to the cost passed on to consumers.”
Medications are usually divided into tiers that determine the amount of co-pay an individual pays for prescription drugs. Tiers are often labeled “generic,” “preferred,” and “non-preferred,” and each tier has a set amount that an individual is required to pay for the medication. For example, medication co-pays are often $10 for generic, $30 for preferred and $60 for non-preferred. In response to the increasing costs of specialty drugs for chronic diseases, many health plans have instituted a fourth tier, called “specialty tier” that requires individuals to pay a percentage of the cost of the most expensive medications as opposed to a fixed amount, often costing hundreds of dollars per prescription.
Specialty drugs are usually prescribed for patients with serious chronic diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and hemophilia. Transplant patients are also charged specialty tier prices. Dr. Dennis McManus of OSF St. Francis Medical Center will lead a short presentation and then a panel of experts will take questions from patients and those in attendance.
“There should not have to be a choice between medication and the other necessities in life,” said Gordon. “This forum will help to raise awareness over a very serious issue that individuals are facing, and I urge all constituents, particularly the thousands that are fighting chronic illnesses, to stop by our free event.”
For more information on the Specialty Tier forum, please contact Gordon’s constituent service’s office at (309) 681-1992.