Bill aimed at saving Oklahoma pharmacies, could increase price of prescriptions

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – House lawmakers sitting on the Public Health committee heard a proposed bill Wednesday that could help small Oklahoma pharmacies. Those against the measure said it would raise the price of prescription drugs.Senate Bill 789 was authored by Senator Todd Gollihare (R-Kellyville).

It cleared the Senate and has now made its way to committee in the House.Representative and pharmacist TJ Marti (R-Broken Arrow) explained the bill to House lawmakers. He said the bill boosts reimbursement for smaller Oklahoma pharmacies so they can fill prescriptions while trimming profits for larger pharmacy chains that are now dominating the market.



School cell phone ban moves one step closer at Capitol"We're losing pharmacies every single day,” said Marti. "Those Oklahoma retail pharmacies can fill those same prescriptions, and we can do it a lot cheaper. So that's the goal with this bill.

"Lawmakers worried how the bill would trickle down to Oklahoma consumers. Oklahoma Families for Affordable Health Care sent text messages to voters and posted on social media claiming the legislation would increase prices for prescription drugs by around $15, which an overall cost of around $320 million a year.When pressed on those numbers, Rep.

Marti said it was a tactic."The information that they're putting out sounds like it's from Oklahomans that care about health care. It's from the industry who we've been fighting for the past six years," said Marti.

KFOR reached out to Oklahoma Families for Affordable Health Care but never received a return email or phone call on our requests for an interview.Rep. Marilyn Stark (R-Bethany) said she had several calls and emails about the bill from constituents.

"As you can guess, we've had many conversations about this with multiple people," said Stark.She pressed Rep. Marti about the concerns she heard from Oklahomans.

"I'm actually asking about the cost to the consumer, not the state,” said Stark.Marti told lawmakers Oklahomans would likely see an increase to the cost of medications but it would also save many pharmacists across the state. "What I can assure you of is that insurance rates are going up 10 to 20% every year.

So that's happening no matter what we do.".