Vote No on HB 2853

HB 2853 would mandate and encourage a practice known as “point of sale rebates” in pharmaceutical sales. Point-of-sale rebates benefit roughly 3 to 5 percent of Oklahomans who receive rebates for (usually expensive) brand-name drugs when they purchase them at their pharmacy. Unfortunately, those rebates are paid for by the other 95 percent of insured Oklahomans, whose insurance premiums rise to help subsidize the cost of these rebates. By encouraging point-of-sale rebates, HB 2853 isn’t reducing healthcare costs; it is shifting the cost burden away from a minority of Oklahomans and onto everyone else. The supporters of HB 2853 say they are trying to lower healthcare costs, but point-of-sale rebates don’t do that. If policymakers want to make health care more affordable, then any rebates should be used to lower health insurance premiums for all Oklahomans.