The Dublin-based drugmaker Shire is lobbying against several provisions in the Republican's healthcare reform plan, according to CEO Flemming Ornskov, MD.
Dr. Ornskov told Business Insider, he's concerned the House's bill and the Senate's revised healthcare bill would make it more difficult for people with preexisting conditions to gain continuous and lifetime coverage.
Shire is lobbying against lifetime caps on coverage, which could keep patients from receiving care after they use a certain amount of benefits. The caps could pose an issue for rare disease patients, who start taking many of Shire's expensive rare disease drugs at a young age. The drugmaker, which achieves more than two-thirds of its annual revenue from U.S. drug sales, is also lobbying for children to keep health coverage, even if their parents switch jobs.
Along with protecting healthcare coverage, Dr. Ornskov highlighted the need for more transparency around accessing medications.
"Oftentimes it's not 'I'm covered or I'm not covered,'" he told Business Insider. "It is maneuvering in a system which is very complex."
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