“There ought to be a law!” and “We have to do something!”

Those are two sentences that advocates of smaller government hate to hear, especially when said by typically conservative lawmakers.

Subscribe now

But that seems to be the motivation behind SB 2031 that has been introduced for the 2023 Legislative Session.

As we reported back in 2021, there has been an effort to move North Dakota down the road of using the power of state government to control prices in the prescription drug market.

Watchdog Update

Is The Legislature Really Going To Defer To Canadian Price Controls?

Several weeks ago, it was brought to my attention that there were handful of bills designed to create a price control system in North Dakota for prescription drugs. At first, I was dismissive that this was a real threat. I mean, come on, how could legislators in a state like North Dakota really try to do such a thing that goes against everything they have proclaimed about socialist healthcare over the last decade…

2 years ago · Dustin Gawrylow

The jist of this bill is to create a pilot program for the State Insurance Commissioner to be put in the position of negotiating with drug makers to lower prices for retired state employees. (If the pilot program “works” it is presumed it would be expanded.

One question that should be raised is: wouldn’t it be better to negotiate a deal with the health insurance company that provides all state employees with health insurance, and create a side-benefit for retirees that way? - sort of our North Dakota’s own version of Medicare Part D. It would seem that it would be easier for an existing insurance company to negotiate and cover these costs than trying to invent a new process and new bureaucracies to put the state’s insurance commissioner in charge of drug prices.

Subscribe now

The most egregious feature of this bill is that it attempts to normalize deferring North Dakota policies to the policies of Canada. (Bernie Sanders would love this idea!)

Even more amazing is that recently, North Dakota State University published a paper regarding the dangers of pharmaceutical price controls.

Subscribe now

We are expending tax dollars to develop academic research at our publically funded universities showing that these are bad policies - but yet some legislators want to push forward.

Who is behind this effort?

If you drive around Bismarck, you will see billboards like this:

The North Dakota chapter of AARP is the driving force behind this effort as their website explains.

Which is their right to do so, and their intentions to reduce drug prices are not wrong - but this approach is terribly misguided and we should expect Republican legislators to know better.

It is unclear whether the interim committee’s approval of this bill was “all for show”, regardless, your legislators need to be reminded that price controls lead to a path toward socialized medicine - something Republicans used to be against.

Kratinos Socratous on Twitter: ""The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I am here to help" (Ronald Reagan) #Cyprus #CyprusPapers #quotes https://t.co/TWs9ym7QAh" / Twitter

North Dakota's Watchdog Update

SB 2031 Continues Path to Prescription Drug…