DMoller and Associates tell Legislative Health and Human Services big change is needed to control drug costs for New Mexico
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"New Mexico is facing a health care time bomb, and leaders need to act quickly….The state is at a crossroads, and it’s time for leadership to stand up.”
-- Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board, July 27, 2025
We couldn’t agree more. For several years now our Campaign has been pushing the legislature to provide funding to hire experts to develop solutions to the systemic causes of rising health care costs (the Cost Drivers Project).
At a Legislative Health and Human Services Committee meeting in Las Vegas (New Mexico), on July 22, members heard a report addressing a major causes of escalating health care prices: prescription drugs.
What Moller Presented to LHHS
A health care consultant for over forty years, Dorothy Moller focused on ways our state can lower escalating drug prices.
This was no abstract presentation. Moller mesmerized the committee. She described not only what states large and small are doing, but also the methods used by other countries whose lower drug prices have been noted by President Trump.
Like the Albuquerque Journal editorial board, Moller did not pull punches:
"The area of pharmaceutical expenditures actually presents the state with an opportunity to reduce its costs and potentially redirect some of those monies to other places. It will in fact, require significant change to the way that the state is currently procuring and pricing pharmaceuticals…"
She points out that the state has passed what she describes as “foundational legislation,” (such as drug price transparency, PBM (Pharmaceutical Benefit Mangers) regulation and expanding pharmacist scope of practice). However, with the exception of bills that target specific drugs, “these bills do not have the potential to significantly impact cost and access. That’s where the next challenge lays.”
There are state and international examples to learn from. There are reforms that would save both state and federal money and “support population health goals and the needs of the state.”
Moller stresses that consolidated purchasing is not the only systemic solution to the drug price problem. She underscores that we cannot separate pharmaceutical reforms from health care delivery.
For example, the United States is increasingly relying on drugs for treatment. The number of those who use five or more medicines (polypharmacy) has dramatically increased. This reliance on medications impacts health costs. In addition, increasing medical drug errors also add to the overall cost problem (emergency room visits, hospitalizations, even death).
Committee and Public Comments
LHHS Committee Chair, Rep. Liz Thompson stated that this important work and other reports to come is due to GRO monies (individual budget allocations to each legislator) donated by Rep. Chavez and herself.
The Legislative Finance Committee now must provide LHHS with an appropriation so this committee can continue to explore immediate and systemic solutions.
The links below includes public testimony from Health Security Executive Committee member Barbara Casey and ED, Mary Feldblum.
Board member and pharmacist Davena Norris submitted written testimony.
Links:
Moller's presentation, which begins at around 10:45: Feldblum’s testimony begins at around 11:37 AM.
Video of hearing: https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00293/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20250726/-1/77388
Slide presentation: https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/LHHS 072125 Item 8 RX.pdf
For Moller’s final report and appendix, see Cost Driver Reports
What's Next?
We think that a drug pricing subcommittee must be formed ASAP, consisting of interested legislators and experts (such as faculty members from the UNM College of Pharmacy Departments) along with guidance from Moller. This subcommittee would determine the following:
1. Which immediate RX solutions that address prices could be implemented in the next session?
2. Which systemic path should NM take: join an existing multi-state purchasing consortium? Create our own Drug Purchasing Board? Another option?
Stakeholders, especially purchasers, should have a chance to comment, but right now some expert technical support is required..
Drug cost provisions will join other health cost solutions as part of our deep dive into addressing systemic cost drivers. All systemic solutions are by nature interconnected. This is why we think our holistic approach to reform will accomplish what piecemeal adjustments cannot — and what some may think little ol’ New Mexico cannot!