Sen. Baldwin has health care discussion in La Crosse on holding down cost of inhalers for asthma sufferers

The cost of inhalers for asthma sufferers was the main topic of a meeting that US Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) had in La Crosse on Thursday.

Baldwin, who met with health care professionals and others at the Gundersen Health System clinic on 3rd Street, has been calling on the makers of inhalers to keep their prices low, after calling out pharmaceuticals on the matter back in January.

The Democrat said three out of the top four inhaler producers have gone along with the request, capping prices at $35, after she and other lawmakers launched an investigation on costs back in January.

“They’ve been around for 70-plus years,” Baldwin said. “Their patents should have expired, and there should be generic competition helping to drive the price down.”

Retired Gundersen pediatrician Steven Manson has seen patients have to decide between health care and other expenses.

“We would prescribe some medicine, and find out later that they could not afford it,” Manson said, “so therefore, they either didn’t pick up the prescription, or they would ration the amount of medicine, or they couldn’t send it to school or to their sporting event because of the cost of the inhaler.”

Manson added that he’s happy Baldwin has become educated on the price of medicine.

“Inhaler device manufacturers charging 10-15 times more for Americans for their inhalers than people in other countries. It seems absurd,” Baldwin said. “Then hearing personal accounts from constituents who have asthma or COPD, who simply can’t afford their medications.”

The senator said one asthma medicine, which costs only $7 in France, is sometimes sold for about $500 in the U.S.