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Nathan Houdek: “Statutorily we're obligated to follow, you know, what our…”

Featuring: Nathan Houdek, Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance

April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill

Published July 1, 2025 | Video Starts at 41:15

Like Kevin was saying, I mean, there is a transformative element to, to these drugs and clearly a benefit to people who can take them. But we have to, you know, Statutorily we're obligated to follow, you know, what our requirements are in terms of adding new benefits. So that's really where it comes down to. Dr. Huth, does group health cover obesity drugs? You know, why or why not? (41:15–41:23)

CLAIM

Asserts that statutory obligations dictate the requirements for adding new benefits.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Nathan Houdek

“Florida became the first state approved to import drugs from Canada by the FDA.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 23:22-23:31
“Eight or nine states have passed laws and are in process of applying to the FDA for approval to implement [prescription drug importation]…”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 47:42-47:53
“Governor Evers created the Task Force on Reducing Prescription Drug Prices in 2019.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 22:07-22:14
“The task force held meetings from November 2019 to August 2020.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 22:14-22:40
“Governor Evers included recommendations from the task force in his last two biennial budget bills.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 22:54-23:09
“Florida being the first one we've seen [applying to the FDA for prescription drug importation program approval].”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 23:22-23:31
“More states are adopting prescription drug affordability review boards.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 23:30-23:38
“Eight or nine states have adopted prescription drug affordability review boards.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 23:30-23:38
“The Biden administration is allowing Medicare to negotiate some drug prices.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 25:10-25:19
“Issues around patent abuse, consolidation, and lack of competition need federal government action.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 25:28-25:41
“The drug pricing and drug supply chain system is complex and opaque.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 31:44-31:59
“There's a lack of information, there's a lack of transparency [in the drug pricing and supply chain system].”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 31:44-31:59
“As public policymakers and regulators, it's difficult to understand where to focus on the supply chain.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 32:02-32:12
“Having more transparency, more disclosure, more reporting [in the drug pricing and supply chain system] is a critical first step.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 32:23-32:42
“The Group Insurance Board has opted against covering obesity drugs for state employees.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 39:56-40:10
“To date, we haven't had sufficient data information provided to the Board that would essentially show us that there is cost savings that…”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 40:09-40:29
“The decision [not to cover obesity drugs] comes down to the statutory limitation that the Board has in terms of adding new covered benefits…”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 40:33-40:33
“Connecticut just passed a law that has them join a bulk prescription drug purchasing program run out of the state of Oregon and Washington.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 47:55-48:11
“Governor Evers has a similar proposal around a bulk purchasing program here in the state.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 48:12-48:20
“Industry players benefit from the current system and spend a lot of money on lobbying.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 49:48-49:58
“Lobbying disclosures are all public information.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 49:57-50:01
“Some reforms around PBM business practices have gotten bipartisan support in Wisconsin.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 50:37-50:52
“The first set of PBM licensure and disclosure requirements were put in place in 2021.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 50:52-51:03
“Legislation for additional regulatory guardrails and requirements has been advanced but not passed into law.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 51:03-51:16
“Meaningful patent reform is a federal issue.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 1:00:05-1:00:27
“Allow drugs to become generic and have biosimilars come to the market faster would have a big impact.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 1:00:05-1:00:27
“Manufacturers can't play games with the patenting system.”
April 30, 2024 - Prescription drug costs: No magic pill | Uploaded July 1, 2025 | 1:00:14-1:00:18