LANSING — A Republican legislative leader and other lawmakers, including state Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette, on Wednesday unveiled measures they said are designed to lower prescription drug prices, bring parity in insurance coverage of chemotherapy and improve the quality of health care.

The sweeping 15-bill package would, among other things, regulate pharmacy benefit managers that run prescription drug coverage for insurers and employers, and ban the “middlemen” managers from profiting by charging a health plan more than what is paid to the dispensing pharmacy. Other bills would cap insulin co-pays at $50 for a 30-day supply, require insurers to count all drug rebates received for a medication toward a family’s deductible or maximum out-of-pocket costs and limit drugmakers’ ability to give gifts to doctors.

House Speaker Jason Wentworth, a Farwell Republican, said “existing problems with our rigged health care system are magnified” in the coronavirus pandemic. “Those problems have always been there. It is well past time to fix this problem and make health care work for Michigan families.”

Cambensy joined the bipartisan group of legislators Wednesday to introduce a package of bills “aiming to increase health care access and make prescription drugs more affordable in Michigan,” officials said in a release from Cambensy’s office.

House Bill 4346, introduced by Cambensy, would establish an insulin co-pay cap of $50 for a 30-day supply, according to the release.

“Skyrocketing insulin prices pose a grave danger to thousands throughout Michigan, where one out of every 10 people have diabetes,” Cambensy said in the release. “As a type-1 diabetic for 34 years myself, I understand the constant fear so many live with — that fear of going without their lifesaving medication because they simply cannot afford it. This package of bills will benefit all people within the state to deliver lower prescription costs, improve access to health care, and save taxpayers money by implementing a preventative care approach to our current healthcare system. I am thankful my colleagues and I were able to work on this issue in a cooperative, bipartisan manner.”

Other proposals in the package include:

≤ Licenses and regulates pharmacy benefit managers by implementing quarterly transparency report requirements from them while also requiring an annual report from state regulators to the legislature detailing the cost of prescription drugs, any increases and rationale for increases;

≤ Prohibiting an insurer from requiring a patient to pay a higher co-pay than the cost of a dispensed medication while allowing pharmacists to disclose the current price of medications;

≤ Requiring an insurer to count all drug rebates received for a medication toward a family’s out-of-pocket maximum;

≤ Allowing out-of-state providers to provide telehealth services and allow consumers to use an online or mobile platform to renew their contact prescription;

≤ Placing limits on drug manufacturers’ gifts to physicians and;

≤ Stopping insurance companies from removing a prescription drug from its list of offerings during a plan year.

The bill was expected to be heard in the House Committee on Health Policy this morning.