Molly Beck

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Democratic candidate for governor Tony Evers would seek to lower prescription drug prices by creating a new state board that would have the authority to review price hikes and impose fines on drug makers for "excessive" increases.

The plan Evers released Monday also would require drug companies to justify large price increases, make the state’s prescription drug program for seniors cover flu shots and allow importing drugs from Canada.

"We shouldn’t have to use GoFundMe (websites) to pay for medical bills, and we shouldn’t walk into our pharmacies wondering whether a prescription is going to cost an arm or a leg or both," Evers said in a statement. "The bottom line is that too often health care isn’t affordable in Wisconsin, in large part due to the high price of prescription drugs."

Evers released the plan less than a month before the Nov. 6 election during which he hopes to unseat Gov. Scott Walker, who is seeking a third term.

"Once again, Madison bureaucrat Tony Evers is pushing more government and fewer choices. That's not leadership, it's just empty promises," Austin Altenburg, spokesman for Walker, said in reaction to Evers' plan.

Walker's campaign also pointed to a federal appeals court decision this year ruling that a Maryland law allowing its attorney general to sue drug makers over price increases was unconstitutional. The court said the law interfered with interstate commerce because litigation targeted wholesale prices used in transactions outside of the state, according to Reuters.

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Evers' plan also would prohibit contracts between drug companies and pharmacists that ban pharmacists from disclosing to customers ways to buy their medicine at a lower cost — mirroring a proposal passed by Congress this month.

The proposed state board would include members appointed by the governor, and would work with the Department of Health Services and Commissioner of Insurance to review price increases, and have the authority to refund consumers if the board determined a price increase was unwarranted.

A spokeswoman for Evers did not respond to how the board would refund consumers.

Evers' proposal to set up a system to import drugs from Canada, which controls prices on prescription medicine, would revive a plan from Walker's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. Doyle set up a website in 2004 to help people buy cheaper drugs from Canadian pharmacies. That website is no longer active.

Evers also proposes to expand SeniorCare to cover flu shots for seniors.

Walker in recent years has twice tried to substantially scale back SeniorCare, the state’s prescription drug program that serves more than 92,000 Wisconsin residents ages 65 or older. Walker's first two-year budget would have effectively ended the program by putting tens of thousands of seniors on the potentially more expensive federal Medicare Part D drug benefit, but lawmakers didn't adopt the idea.

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But recently, Walker has sought to support the program and continue it indefinitely — proposing this year to seek a permanent federal approval for SeniorCare before its current waiver expires in December.

Walker proposed the idea as part of a $200 million plan to hold down rising insurance premiums and stabilize the state's Obamacare market.

Also on Monday, Walker released a new TV ad criticizing Evers over considering making changes to Wisconsin’s taxes if elected.

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Evers said in September he is contemplating eliminating a tax break for manufacturers and farmers, increasing income taxes on the wealthy and cutting income taxes for others.

"That would be a giant step backwards," Walker said in the new ad.



Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.