Advocate for lower reception prices and more long-term care funds

Don Baylies remembers his heart sinking when he saw how much he had to pay out of pocket for the mood stabilizer he takes for post-traumatic stress disorder – $995.

“There’s no way you can pay that much money,” said Baylies, 79, a retired Amtrak repair technician who lives south of Syracuse. “If you had to pay that, you would have to give up the medication.”

Unable to afford the copay, Baylies skipped his medication and endured frightening mood swings for about a month. He only resumed taking it after switching his prescription to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which covers the entire cost.

“I don’t know why the United States can’t do anything about it.” high cost of prescription drugssays Baylies, an Air Force veteran.

AARP hopes New York could do this soon. Passing a law requiring the state to develop a plan and obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to import drugs from Canada is among AARP New York’s top priorities for the 2025 legislative session that begins in January .

Another AARP goal: More government funding to expand home services such as cooking and housekeeping for older residents who need such help. According to a 2023 report from the New York State Office for the Aging, some applicants for such programs had to enter nursing homes due to long waiting lists or even died before receiving help.

Other priorities include increasing surveillance of nursing homes, protecting older New Yorkers from financial exploitation and improving street safety for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit.

“Overall, this is about protecting the health and safety of older adults,” says Kristen McManus, advocacy director at AARP New York.

Drug costs are at the forefront of the effort

Prescription drugs cost nearly three times as much in the United States as in 33 comparable countries; According to a 2024 federal report, they are more than twice as expensive as in Canada.

Photo by Jackie Molloy

That’s largely because Canada and other countries negotiate extensively with pharmaceutical companies, giving them significant influence, says Bill Ferris, advocacy director for AARP New York.

A 2019 AARP survey of registered New York voters 62 percent of respondents ages 50 and older had concerns about prescription drug costs. Of those who said they hadn’t filled a prescription in the last two years, 60 percent said it was because of the cost.

“AARP finds it completely unacceptable for anyone to forego taking a prescription medication because of cost,” Ferris said.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures and AARP, 10 states — including Colorado, Maine and New Mexico — have passed laws directing the state to establish a drug importation program or explore the idea. Florida’s plan, the first to be approved by the FDA in January, includes medications for some chronic conditions and people in some government health programs.

If New York’s expected bill goes into effect, Ferris said it’s unclear which drugs the state would include in its plan. It will likely take several years for the state to receive all approvals before prescription drugs can flow across the U.S.-Canada border, he adds.

A New York drug import bill has been stalled over the past three years due to opposition from the pharmaceutical industry. Stami Williams, a spokeswoman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, says importing prescription drugs from Canada would be “dangerously inadequate” to ensure the “safety, accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs.”

“The idea of ​​government import proposals, and this bill in particular, will once again fail to live up to its promise,” Williams said in an email.

The FDA has said government plans must demonstrate they will “significantly reduce” drug costs “without posing additional risk to public health and safety.”

Katherine Shaver has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, including 26 years at The Washington Post.

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