State Senate Dems: Drug Price Hike a 'Death Sentence'

From earlier today, and worth mentioning if only for the unusual starkness of rhetoric:

State Senate Democrats are hoping stop private insurance companies from increasing the cost of health care for thousands of New Yorkers, arguing that a change in New York's three-tier system of calculating costs -- allowing insurance companies to apply for a Tier 4 reimbursement level -- would raise the price of prescription drugs for patients.

“Tier 4 would be a death sentence to me and to so many that I represent because [prescription drugs] would be unaffordable,” said State Senator Bill Perkins, whose colon cancer is in remission, at a press conference on the City Hall steps just now.

“This is a real serious matter. This is a life-and-death matter. And in effect, they are sentencing those who are not able to pay, to death,” Perkins said.

Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith said, “If this happens in this state, I would challenge every elected official, city state and federal, to take a second guess as to why they’re in office. This should not happen.”

State Senator John Sabini said, “This Tier 4 prescription coverage is not insurance -- it’s Darwinism.”