This should come as no surprise to most of us who call Utah home. We recognize that children are the future leaders of America, and it is our job as parents to ensure they have the means for success and have a country that is still guided by free market ideals and a government that does not dictate every facet of life, even years down the line when they are adults. Unfortunately, certain lawmakers in Congress have made it their mission to undermine competition in our markets, this time in our health care system.

Recent policies being considered in Washington, D.C., are targeting pharmacy benefits and are being labeled as some magic potion to fix high prescription drug prices, but in reality, is just another attempt for the government to dictate our decisions with the result being less competition and higher prices for all.

Pharmacy benefit companies help save individuals more than $1,000 per person per year. As a mother of four children, these savings are incredibly important. They do this by putting downward pressure on drug companies, which promotes competition and results in lower costs. With a more competitive market, prices will go down and any attempt to undermine that is an attempt to upend our free market.

As Brian Garst from the American Institute for Economic Research recently wrote, there is no real “free market” in the drug industry, as it’s “been steadily eroded by regulators and lawmakers, often at the behest and to the benefit of drug manufacturers, resulting in their ability to charge prices well over what a competitive market would allow.” At the same time, Garst notes that multiple studies — including several authored by top government economists — show that pharmacy benefit companies “save drug consumers considerable sums,” making the congressional push to have government take over pharmacy benefits “all the more vexing.”

Meanwhile, drug companies continuously stifle competition in the prescription drug market to their advantage so they can set out-of-control prices and boost their own profits at the expense of American patients and families. One such tactic commonly utilized by drug companies is patent thickets, and a recent report assessed five brand-name drugs for which their manufacturer built patent thickets. The report found that the yearly cost of delayed competition ranged from $1.8 billion to $7.6 billion.

This anti-competitive nature keeps Utah families from being able to access more affordable alternatives like generics and biosimilars.

Pharmacy benefit companies serve as the one real check against the anti-competitive tactics of Big Pharma. They negotiate with drug companies to secure rebates which in turn get passed down to health plan sponsors who use the savings for everyday plan enrollees like me and my family. Competitive forces, such as pharmacy benefit companies, should be preserved — not targeted — by our legislators.

Utah is counting on our elected leaders in Washington to protect our free market and ensure families can flourish by rejecting misguided policies that would undermine competition in our prescription drug market by restricting pharmacy benefits.

Suzy Matheson is a mother of four and a board member of Elect Women Utah.