A proposal to allow unused prescription drugs to be donated to low-income patients is advancing in the Florida Legislature. Florida already allows cancer drugs be donated.
State Rep. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, is sponsoring the bipartisan measure to create a prescription drug donation program.
He posed this example in a December phone interview: 鈥淚f you had a patient who was in a nursing home or a hospital, or something like that, and they had a lot of medication prescribed to them but then they passed away and the medication had not been opened or compromised in any way or expired, then those drugs could be donated.鈥�
The medicine could be donated to someone else who was prescribed that medicine but can鈥檛 afford it, meaning someone low-income, uninsured or underinsured.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a way to help the citizens of our state and consumers in our state that would be in need and save money and use these drugs that [are] perfectly fine and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with them,鈥� Yarborough said.
According to legislative staff, Florida is one of 38 states that allow some kind of drug donation, and it鈥檚 among the 13 states that limit it to cancer drugs.
The state鈥檚 cancer drug donation program is managed by the . The version of Yarborough鈥檚 bill that has passed one committee would make the drug donation program a separate operation under the Health Department.
The bill would prohibit patients from directly donating meds, but hospitals, nursing homes and hospices could. Some addictive drugs like Oxycodone would be excluded. The Department of Health would be required to maintain a registry on its website of all available drugs and supplies, as well as the repositories where they鈥檙e available.
Legislative staff looked at other states with broad donation programs like . That state served more than 71,000 uninsured or underinsured patients over the last eight years, providing 9.1 million units of free drugs and supplies.
According to a , U.S. patients and insurers spend approximately $328.6 billion annually on prescription drugs, with 14 percent paid out of pocket by consumers. Without donation or 鈥渞ecycling鈥� programs, unused prescription drugs are often flushed down the toilet or given to sheriffs鈥� offices drug take-back days.
The House and Senate versions of the bill each have two more committee stops before reaching the floor.
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Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @.
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