Representative Fred Allen

Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information — Nov. 21, 2019 (1:11:08)

we will we think it's important that we don't hold our kids hostage and that's what we're doing right now if we don't move forward we are punishing our kids we're punishing the future and Arkansas will be left out Representative Meeks I

Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information — Nov. 21, 2019 (1:10:31)

sit here and understand like understanding why we can't move forward and why we can't take the politics out of it and the people that we're punishing it's our kids and our kids is a voice into the future that many of us will never see but what we do for our kids today will basically determine what kind of leadership we'll have tomorrow so I think it's very important that we will

Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information — Nov. 21, 2019 (1:10:10)

what I have to say yes yes we do I think you run me out of here yeah it appears that a study was done 16 years ago but right now it looks like we're stuck in time and it's hard for me to

Education Committee - Senate & House Meeting Jointly with Advanced Communications & Information — Nov. 21, 2019 (1:09:58)

you recognize okay I always have a lot to say but I don't think you all want to hear

Insurance & Commerce (Senate) — April 1, 2025 (1:02:01)

I think that stage one cancer treatment is $50,000 versus stage four, which is $150,000. So the earlier we can detect disease, the less money we will save and more lives we will save. And with that,

Insurance & Commerce (Senate) — April 1, 2025 (1:01:49)

UP LATER, GO AHEAD, REPRESENTATIVE VALEN. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN. I think there's some hidden costs in doing nothing. I think the highest rate lies best due to late stage detection.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (2:22:47)

So now I'm having to go to a company outside of the state of Arkansas, and they'll mail it to me. So I think that what we need to do is try to find a way where we can eliminate those things from happening to patients, not just in the city of Little Rock, but around the state of Arkansas. So I appreciate what you're doing, and I thank you for your services. I appreciate it, Representative Allen. Representative Baker, you recognize for a question. Thank you, Mr. Head.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (2:22:31)

victim. It just recently happened to me. I had a prescription given to me from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. I tried to get it filled here in the state of Arkansas, and they will not allow any pharmacists here in the state of Arkansas to fill my medication.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (2:21:19)

from selling their drugs? So through the through the PBMs we do

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (2:20:32)

I was recently treated at Carti. My last treatment was in December. And you all have some of the best doctors in the state of Arkansas and probably around the country. But I do have a question. When you talk about specialty drugs, are you all able to get specialty drugs

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (2:20:28)

Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Head, for what you all are doing at Carti.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:07:30)

I appreciate that a request for data from us is going to come after that deadline, so that you're only asking once and you're getting as much data as you possibly can through that initial ask. Did it come as fast as it should have? I think we did it the best that we could, but we're only one piece of that puzzle and that work. All right. Any other questions from the committee?

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:06:56)

I want to say that I have been talking with Representative Mayberry, and I love working with her. I've worked with her for many, many years on many different pieces of legislation. We have been talking on this bill for a long time. These are things that we have been doing analysis, and I've expressed, I'm not surprising her by anything that I'm saying today. These are concerns that I've routinely expressed around the way the bill was drafted. As far as getting fiscal impacts, you know, I have a, we have a deadline.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:06:22)

Representative Allen, you recognize your question. Thank you. Maybe my question is relevant, maybe not irrelevant to what we're talking about. But we're late in the session right now. And to me, this is a good piece of legislation. And we just got the financial impact statements back. So is there any way that we can get these statements earlier in the session so we won't have to be fighting time like we are right now?

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:05:48)

their system. Okay, thank you. And I would say, you know, I know there's been some comparison to Medicaid and Medicare covering this, but keep in mind those programs automatically have a mandated rebate. So they're not spending the same amount that our plan would be. There's a 23.1% rebate that is mandated by the federal government to a drug manufacturer when it comes onto those programs. So it's not really, when you look at the costs, the costs are different between those federal plans and the state plan.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:04:05)

I think our average state employee has about 10 and a half years of service, somewhere in that range. Okay.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:03:33)

That's a great question that I don't have off the top of my head. Do you know? So I'd say our average monthly premium is probably between all of the plans, active, retired, all of that. You're probably going to land the average somewhere in the mid-100s that somebody's doing on a monthly basis for their insurance premium. Okay. And how long are people normally

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:02:52)

tomorrow if the data and everything was there that led to that being the best decision for the plan.

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:02:20)

that would show the savings that comes here. Thank

Insurance & Commerce (House) — April 2, 2025 (1:01:54)

questions. Thank you for your testimony. Representative Allen, you're recognized for your question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for coming,