This is a guest opinion column

There is an ever-growing number of people in Alabama who are arriving at the pharmacy counter with one dominating thought on their mind: Can I afford this prescription? The steadily increasing cost of drugs is forcing many to question whether they can afford the additional monthly medication cost. Americans are trapped between paying for essential goods and paying for a healthier future. Despite this, many in Congress are determined to pursue misguided legislation at the expense of everyone in our state and nation who relies on access to prescription medications.

Some within Washington D.C. see this health care crisis as an opportunity to expand the government’s reach and trample pharmacy benefit companies that provide value to those that are struggling to navigate the cost of their prescriptions. These organizations save individuals more than $1,000 a year, and help save Alabama’s employers more than $870 per patient annually.

Pharmacy benefit companies are a byproduct of the free market and competition at work, and many rely on the savings they provide to make ends meet. However, more intrusive government intervention in our health care system is essential for the advancing of some politicians ‘Medicare-for-All’ playbook. They want to tear away free market innovation and competitiveness to make room for more regulations, mandates, and a federal body deciding who wins and loses in the pharmaceutical market.

This is ideal if your goal is socialized medicine, but if you want to lower costs for Americans, it is nothing short of a nightmare. A recent joint publication from Jack Kemp Foundation senior fellow Ike Brannon and DePaul University Economics Professor Anthony Lo Sasso, the noted economists, outlined the disastrous consequences of careless regulation:

“These provisions reveal that the intent behind the plethora of bills by Congress to constrain the negotiating power of PBMs is nothing less than a coordinated effort to remove and otherwise neutralize the mechanisms PBMs employ to reduce drug prices. The PBMs’ ability to reduce the amount of money that drug companies make has put them squarely in their crosshairs, and drug companies have ponderously attempted to place the blame on them for high prices.”

Other experts, like Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) senior fellow Joel Zinberg, have echoed these concerns in discussing the proposed elimination of rebates, writing: “The legislation being debated would limit or eliminate rebates and discounts that pass through PBMs, and require PBMs to disclose pricing and other confidential contract terms. These provisions could decrease competition and result in higher costs, thereby sacrificing much of the value PBMs provide.”

To some, these sacrifices are worth it, so long as it means the federal government can fill the role that private companies currently occupy.

This is just one example of legislation currently under consideration in our nation’s Capital that will affect all of us. The burden will fall on patients who refuse to take their prescriptions out of fear of how much they will cost. Inflation has budgets tight in every household, and the loss of hundreds of dollars in savings provided by pharmacy benefit companies will undoubtedly lead to a breaking point for American families.

Competition in the free market put our country’s economy on the world stage. The innovations brought about by the push and pull of private businesses already drive down costs across the board, but those on the Left want to make sure the government – and only the government – determines what happens in the health care and pharmaceutical markets.

Government expansion and a radical overhaul of the U.S. health care system at the expense of patients and families will not lead to a better America or Alabama. It falls onto the shoulders of Senators Tuberville and Britt, as well as their counterparts in the House, to hold the line against overreach. Senator Tuberville already voted against a harmful proposal targeting our pharmacy benefits in the Senate HELP Committee earlier this year – which was commendable – but we need our elected leaders in Washington to continue to stand strong.

Without a strong check from elected officials, the Left will continue its agenda to socialize medicine, increase the cost of prescriptions, and drive America into a future without any of the critical free market forces that serve as a bulwark against the rising tide of health care costs.

Kelly Reese serves as the Founder of Inside Medicine, created to bring together patients, physicians, and communities into a central platform where local healthcare information is shared with your health in mind.