For many years people have watched as this country as a whole, and the states, individually, have grappled with a seemingly never-answered question: How do we keep the cost of health care and medications affordable for everyone?

The answers range from a complete government takeover and nationalization of the health care system to a no-holds-barred wild west with few rules to govern those who would take advantage of the sick, elderly and disabled.

As the mother of a son with Type 1 diabetes, this is an important question for me. My husband and I want to make sure that our son has the care he needs at a price we can afford, so we follow the debate very carefully.

The Department of Health and Human Services in Washington is proposing a new rule that would cause the cost of prescription drugs and Medicare Part D premiums to skyrocket. The proposed federal rule would stop pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, from being able to negotiate on behalf of Medicare, leaving no check on ever-increasing drug prices for the disabled, sick and elderly. The proposed rule would also have an effect on Tricare, which military families, such as ours, depend upon every day.

PBMs work on behalf of the payers. They negotiate savings with drug manufacturers and then pass the savings on to the public through people’s insurance provider. That is a very important part of the health care process. It is a critical link in the supply chain for seniors and anyone living on a fixed income. Many times, PBMs are the only point in the supply chain where costs are restrained through negotiation.

Some would claim that this new rule would lower costs at the pharmacy counter. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The very organization that this rule is proposed by, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, provided an analysis of the proposed rule that showed a potential increase of up to 25 percent for those with a Medicare Part D policy. The study also showed that the taxpayers at large would see a nearly $200 billion federal spending spike from 2020-2029.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the proposed rule is the final point the study articulated. It showed that pharmaceutical companies would get a massive windfall from the new “Rebate Rule” by seeing an estimated $137 billion in increased drug spending from the federal government.

I would encourage Maine’s federal delegation to recognize the extreme harm that will befall the state’s elderly population should the rule go into effect. Maine seniors and families simply cannot afford to pay more at the pharmacy and for their health care plans.

As we struggle with the ever-changing environment of health care in the Maine Legislature, the last thing that we need is for representatives in Washington to make things even more difficult and expensive for the sick, elderly and disabled.

Let’s defeat the “Rebate Rule” and get back to finding solutions that make health care affordable for everyone.

Alyssa O’Brien is the mother of three children. She lives in Durham.