It’s unfortunate that today’s health care system often prioritizes the desires of special interests over ensuring that patients have access to the advanced and innovative medical care available in our system. Ultimately, patients should have the choice of every treatment available and prescribed by their doctor. However, too many New Jerseyans have had to either overcome significant barriers to medicine or forego it. Unless it’s made clear what obstacles stand in the way, patient-friendly reforms won’t be implemented.

New Jersey’s health care system is not without bad actors. From large insurers taking advantage of programs designed to help patients get access to medicines and care, to government policies that stifle innovation and hope for those with chronic illnesses, the current system simply does not work for patients and ultimately limits consumer choice. While our policymakers correctly want to ensure our health care system is functioning appropriately and that New Jerseyans can get the care they need, some approaches may actually erect more barriers. For example, price-setting policies sound sensible, but have raised red flags among industry experts who are concerned they’d only result in fewer treatments that are available to patients.

Recently, Gov. Phil Murphy announced five public appointments to the Drug Affordability Council, created by a law he signed over the summer.  Passed by both houses of the Legislature, the new Drug Affordability Council is charged with formulating legislative and regulatory policy recommendations to lower the costs of prescription drugs.

At the patient and consumer advocacy group Patients Come First, we appreciate policymakers’ interest in ensuring that all patients can fully access the innovative drugs and treatments our best-in-class health care system has to offer. However, it’s important that this Council make thoughtful policy decisions that remove barriers — without undercutting the quality or increasing delays to care.

There are many factors that result in what a patient ultimately pays for a certain drug, such as insurance coverage, rebates, pharmacy prices, and assistance programs from the manufacturer. To put price restrictions on the drug manufacturer alone ignores many contributing cost factors in the health care supply chain and will ultimately have a negative impact on patients’ access to medicines.

Indeed, one of the biggest obstacles facing patients’ access to research and cures is government price setting — whether at the federal level or policies considered by the state. Government bureaucrats setting the price for drugs – or picking and choosing which drugs are eligible to be used in their state – will only increase the likelihood of the withdrawal of some of the best treatments for patients, particularly for those with rare diseases. Gambling with this possibility is dangerous and will only hurt patients who are suffering the most.

Price-setting policies also serve to impede the research and development of the best cures and treatments. Patients with chronic illnesses and rare diseases cannot afford the development pipeline to slow down or be cut off. Allowing the government to control the price of treatments will only disincentivize companies from investing in certain cures, ultimately reducing the level of care all New Jerseyans can access. Coming out of a pandemic, limiting innovation hardly seems like a good idea.

In 2024, almost everyone can say they know someone who suffers from cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or another chronic disease. Patients deserve access to the latest cures and medical advancements that our life sciences industry can develop. The simple fact is that drug pricing is a complex issue that involves insurance companies, pharmacy benefits managers, pharmacies, health care systems, and many other factors in the health care supply chain.  We need to ensure any attempt to improve the system focuses on the patients’ needs and their choices above all else.

Jeanette Hoffman is the executive director of Patients Come First New Jersey, part of the national Patients Come First network.