High drugs perpetuate systemic racism.

Drug corporations tout so-called patient assistance programs as a solution for people who cannot afford their drugs. But 97 percent of these programs exclude people who don’t have insurance. Why? Because these programs are really about selling more drugs at high prices; drug companies want to spend patient assistance money to cover patient copayments in order to leverage the much higher total insurance payment for a drug. Since Black Americans are almost twice as likely to be uninsured, these programs are frequently of no help to them. Those without insurance are often condemned to pay the high list prices set by drug corporations — not the discounted prices that insurers negotiate for their customers.

Yet, there is a more insidious and far-reaching impact of our drug pricing system in perpetrating systemic racism: We permit drug corporations to dictate whatever price they choose, and as a result, they extract an unearned and disproportionate share of the nation’s resources. For every dollar of taxpayer money we send to drug corporations in unwarranted profits through Medicare and other public programs, that is a dollar we don’t have to provide insurance coverage, improve nutrition, clean up water, increase funding for education, and generally support the steps that can lead to a healthier and higher quality of life for communities of color.

The bottom line with prescription drug pricing in America is that brand drug corporations insist on unfettered power to set prices as high as they choose, and diverse communities are disproportionately hurt by their practices.