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Listening to our Concerns

I am writing to endorse our State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98) for re-election. For the last four years Sean has done an outstanding job of listening to our concerns and then doing something about them in Hartford. A great example of this is a bill he passed this year on drug prices.

The cost of drugs continues to rise and these cost increases make a big impact on personal budgets, especially for seniors living on fixed incomes. In addition, consumers get little to no explanation as to why the cost keeps going up from the big drug companies.

To try to fix this, Sean wrote and passed a law this year along with our State Comptroller Kevin Lembo to make Connecticut one of the first states in the nation to require price transparency for drugs.

Under the law, drug companies are required to justify price increases when they exceed 20 percent in one year or 50 percent over three years. The bill also requires pharmacy benefit managers—the middlemen between drug companies and insurance companies—to disclose how much money in rebates are being passed onto us versus retained by the companies. Thanks to Sean’s bill, we are the first state in the nation to require that.

With this information and for the first time, policymakers and consumers will finally understand what is driving these large price increases and can get to work doing something about it.

We are lucky to have someone like Sean fighting hard for us each and every day in Hartford. I hope your readers will join me in supporting him for re-election on Nov. 6.

Anita Catardi

Guilford