But a professor said the accounts do little to improve access to care, or health care system efficiency.

The approach: Let the state contract with wholesalers in Canada, importing cheaper prescriptions from up north and distributing them to the states health care system.

To make a dramatic impact on health care, we have to start from the beginning and the way each one of us engages with the health care system. From there, we can create the full chain to predict, preempt and proactively guide people to better care at a lower cost.

State governments in California, Nevada and New York and Maryland are passing legislation meant to undercut skyrocketing drug prices.