Reuters Health reports that a new study finds that independent drugstores in the state of Florida charged an average of 15 percent more for four widely used prescription drugs than the statewide average according to data examined on the web site MyFloridarx.com. Florida pharmacies that fill prescriptions for Medicaid patients are required by law to post their prices for the 100 most commonly used medications on the web site, according to Reuters.

“With independent drugstores charging 15 percent more than other pharmacies, they shouldn’t be granted new collective bargaining rights which would empower them to charge consumers even more,” said Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO Mark Merritt.

Collective Bargaining Would Increase Costs

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that HR 971 would increase federal costs by $640 million over ten years and that increased drug costs to private health plans, employers, and consumers would result in “reductions in the scope or generosity of health insurance benefits, such as increased deductibles or higher copayments.” CBO’s analysis also contends that cost increases resulting from the legislation would be passed along to workers, reducing “both their taxable compensation and other fringe benefits.”

Collective Bargaining a “Costly Step Backward”

Furthermore, during testimony on HR 971 before the House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated: “Giving heath care providers . . . a license to engage in price fixing and boycotts in order to extract higher payments from third-party payers would be a costly step backward, not forward, on the path to a better health care system.”