Communities of Color Need Senator Sinema to Cut Prescription Drug Costs

For years, the ballooning cost of prescription drugs has taken its toll on Americans across the country, but here in Arizona, the high price of essential medications has hammered our communities of color particularly hard.

Thankfully, Democrats in Washington, D.C., are close to passing historic prescription drug pricing reforms that would lower the cost of life-saving medications for Arizonans across the state. But, unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry has resorted to unscrupulous tactics to try and stop our elected officials from providing relief to folks in need.

People of color here in Arizona have been battered by decades of systemic socioeconomic inequalities, and that’s made them prime targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Black and Latino Arizonans make up 36% of our state. They are far more likely to suffer from debilitating conditions and chronic illnesses that require prescription medications than their white counterparts. For example, Black and Latino Americans make up 32% of all diabetes and nearly 50% of all heart disease diagnoses.

Treating these conditions isn’t a choice, and the pharmaceutical firms that manufacture the prescription medications used to keep them at bay are acutely aware of that. This is why they’ve continued to ratchet up the price of basic medicines. And to make matters worse, drug companies have made some of the highest drug price hikes on medications used to treat issues and illnesses that disproportionately affect Black and brown Americans. For example, the price of insulin used to treat diabetes, has seen a dizzying 1,200% price hike.

Greedy drug companies

Unfortunately, while people of color are the most targeted by greedy drug companies, they’re also the folks who can least afford to pay for pricey prescriptions. For these individuals, years of systemic disadvantage mean that the already prohibitive cost of prescription drugs is even higher.

In the Grand Canyon State, people who identify as either Black or Latino can expect to earn about $20,000 less per year than their white counterparts. Simply put, certain groups in our state have less money to put towards necessities, like the prescription drugs they use every day.

Democrats in Congress are poised to force drug companies to charge fair prices for prescription drugs. But the pharmaceutical industry has employed its lobbyists to spread misinformation to scare the very people in need of drug pricing reform. Drug companies have falsely argued that lower prescription medication prices would limit access to existing drugs and stifle scientific innovation.

But that’s just not the case. New data has demonstrated that — as you’d probably think — lower drug prices mean better access to life-saving treatments and that policies like Medicare negotiation won’t have a meaningful impact on the development of new drugs.

It’s clear that now is the time for Democrats in Washington to fight back against the drug companies that have taken advantage of communities of color for decades. However, prescription drug pricing reform will require a seal of approval from our very own Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who’s emerged as a key leader in the United States Senate. She claims that her goal is to advance the needs and goals of every Arizonan, and right now, Arizonans are asking her to support prescription drug pricing reform. Senator Sinema, we need you to deliver.