By DONNA SCHAIBLEY
State Representative
It’s been said that knowledge is power, and that’s especially true when it comes to taking prescription medications. When patients fully understand their medications and how to take them, they can take charge of their health and focus on the finer things in life like their families, careers, and interests.
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to limit access to critical information about prescriptions, which will undoubtedly put the health of many Hoosiers at risk.
Our Senator Mike Braun has built a reputation as someone who courageously goes to bat for Indiana, especially when big government puts us at risk. As he finishes his final term in Congress, I am hopeful he will continue to lead his colleagues in D.C. by protecting our access to medication information.
Here’s the problem: the FDA is proposing a new rule that would shift patient medication – the printed pamphlets attached to prescriptions sharing critical drug details and directions – to a digital format. Under this rule, Hoosiers will be given a link at the pharmacy to a website that they must open at home to learn about their prescriptions. So instead of providing patients with important details of their prescriptions at the outset, the moment when they can easily look at the paper and ask their pharmacist questions, the FDA is essentially telling them to “just Google it.”
This demonstrates once again how out of touch the federal bureaucracy is with the average American in places like Indiana. Hoosiers already have to juggle online links ad nauseam, from restaurant menus to job applications. To create new hoops to jump through just to learn what foods they should avoid with their prescriptions, for instance, makes little practical sense and all but ensures people won’t access it.
Did the FDA even consider Hoosiers in farm country where broadband is scarce or elderly people who don’t have technology when they drafted this rule? It seems unlikely. They are attempting to impose a one-size-fits-all policy on all of us, even though many people likely prefer a printed sheet they can easily grab if they want to learn more about their prescriptions.
As a workaround, the FDA included a provision in the rule that requires patients to ask their pharmacist to print the information at the counter upon request. But again, this shows how out of touch the FDA has become. Many people at the pharmacy are in a rush, and I can speak for myself in saying that I would likely forget to ask my pharmacist for the printed information. Not to mention, shifting the burden of printing this information from pharmaceutical companies to local pharmacies will put a significant strain on pharmacists who are already overworked and add new financial obligations that many pharmacies will struggle to meet. Is Indiana ready for even more pharmacy closures?
Right now, there are a number of obstacles between Hoosiers and their health. Our state was ranked 40th in the nation for overall health, drug overdose deaths are on the rise, and fentanyl is pouring across our borders and into the hands of innocent children. Why would the FDA add a new health risk, rather than taking steps to keep people safe?
Senator Braun and Congressional leaders can help put a stop to this, and he’s the best champion we have for patient health. He understands that Hoosiers deserve access to health information. In fact, he’s sponsored several pieces of legislation to promote transparency in our healthcare system.
We urgently need him to stand with us again and push back against the FDA’s flawed rule. There’s no time to waste.
State Rep. Donna Schaibley (R-Carmel) represents House District 24, which includes portions of Boone and Hamilton counties.