Report Title:

Pharmaceutical companies; Affordable Drugs

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

41

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Requesting PHARMACEUTICAL companies doing business in hawaii that have programs to assist in providing prescription drugs to the needy to develop a more consumer friendly unified system for free PRESCRIPTION drugs.

 

WHEREAS, residents of Hawaii and across the United States pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's uninsured residents pay excessive prices for prescription drugs; and

WHEREAS, in many cases, exorbitant drug prices deny residents access to medically necessary health care, thereby threatening our residents' health and safety; and

WHEREAS, many residents are admitted to or treated at hospitals each year because they cannot afford the drugs prescribed for them that could have prevented the need for hospitalization; and

WHEREAS, the Medicine Bank provides a means of obtaining free or low-cost pharmaceuticals for individuals through community-based health care centers that may not be accessible to everyone; and

WHEREAS, physicians have been reluctant to use programs administered by pharmaceutical companies providing assistance with drugs for the needy which are complicated and vary in eligibility requirements; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that pharmaceutical companies doing business in Hawaii that have programs to assist in providing prescription drugs to the needy are urged to develop a unified system that can be used by all companies to assist the needy who qualify for free medication; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the unified system developed be easy for consumers and physicians to use; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Health facilitate the development of this unified system; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and all pharmaceutical companies doing business in Hawaii that have programs to assist in providing prescription drugs to the needy.