By voting “no” on Issue 2, the people of Ohio have sent a clear and powerful message – lower drug prices can’t be mandated by government fiat. The American people deserve access to affordable drugs, but they understand that price controls are not a real solution.
I hope the rejection of Issue 2 will encourage policymakers to give up on price control schemes, and instead focus on increasing competition and price transparency across Ohio’s health care markets. Competition is the right way to make lifesaving, and life-improving, more affordable for patients.
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Dr. Tom Coburn is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former two-term U.S. Senator from Oklahoma.