Florida can cut drug costs without risking patient access

I’ve stood alongside cancer patients and their families as they navigate one of the most overwhelming chapters of their lives. Whether someone is newly diagnosed or managing a long-term condition, their needs are consistently focused on ensuring timely, stable access to the treatment their doctor recommends and the ability to continue that care close to home.

Over the years, that experience has shaped more than my work inside our community oncology practices — it has fueled a deep passion for advocacy.

I have seen how policy decisions, even well-intentioned ones, can either strengthen or weaken community oncology practices’ ability to deliver the care patients depend on. That is why I now work closely with legislators at both the state and federal levels to ensure the reforms moving forward truly support patients, protect continuity of care, and sustain the community oncology providers who serve as a lifeline for so many families.

Florida legislators are considering House Bill 697, a proposal that would tie the state’s prescription drug reimbursement system to prices set by foreign governments. On paper, the idea may look straightforward. Many countries pay less for medicines than the United States, so why not benchmark to them? The challenge is that those lower prices are often accompanied by something Florida patients absolutely cannot afford: delays and limits in access to new therapies. Reviewing an international comparison of medicine availability, patients in reference countries often wait 8 months, 14 months, 22 months, or even more than two years before many new treatments become available, and a substantial share never reach those markets at all.

That may be an acceptable trade-off in other health systems, but it is not acceptable here at home, where patients rely on timely access to the new and effective therapies their physicians believe are essential.

As the leader of a community oncology practice, I understand the operational reality: Florida must be careful not to unintentionally weaken the very system that keeps cancer care close to home. Oncology practices work hard to create stable, predictable environments for patients where treatment plans aren’t disrupted by reimbursement swings or supply uncertainty. When a proposal links reimbursement to foreign-set prices that providers cannot actually pay for medications at, the result is not theoretical. It reshapes capacity. It limits options. And ultimately, it adds pressure to families already carrying more than enough.

But none of this means Florida is without good options. There are meaningful, bipartisan steps lawmakers can take right now to lower what patients pay while keeping care accessible in every corner of the state.

Florida can ensure patients benefit directly from the discounts insurers and PBMs negotiate. It can protect families who rely on copay assistance by ensuring the assistance counts toward their out-of-pocket costs. It can modernize how PBMs are compensated, rewarding value and predictability over complexity. And it can reinforce reimbursement structures that keep local oncology practices viable in offering the full range of therapies their patients need.

These are practical, workable solutions that strengthen the system rather than strain it. They reflect what patients consistently say they want: affordability, stability, and care that remains close to home. They also reflect what providers like me believe in: a health care environment where treatment decisions stay between patients and their physicians, and where no family is forced to choose between access and cost.

The country often looks to Florida for best-practice solutions, and Florida policymakers have an opportunity to build a policy framework that reduces the financial burden without disrupting the community-based care model that patients rely on. We can expand affordability without narrowing access. And we can do it in a way that protects the continuum of cancer care for every Floridian, regardless of where they live. That balance is possible and achievable if we focus on solutions that reflect how care is actually delivered in the real world. Cancer patients deserve nothing less.

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Kathy Oubre is president of the Coalition of Hematology and Oncology Practices and the CEO of a community oncology practice.