Rising prescription drug prices are forcing the Maryland General Assembly to consider several solutions to ease the burden on residents.
Rising prescription drug prices are forcing the Maryland General Assembly to consider several solutions to ease the burden on residents.
One man testifying before the Maryland Senate Finance Committee last week said he had to pay about $800 for just one ounce of the drug.
“How many people are making decisions like I do, whether to eat, heat, or treat symptoms like I do?” he told the committee. “This is neurodegeneration and there is no cure.”
Patients like him have voiced support for legislation that may one day cap the prices of certain drugs.
Introduced by both houses of the General Assembly, Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for All Marylanders Act of 2024 It would allow the state’s Prescription Drug Affordability Commission to set “payment caps” for drugs deemed unaffordable.
“One in three Marylanders forget to take their rationed medications or leave their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter because of cost,” said Sen. Dawn Gile of Anne Arundel County, who introduced the bill. I am reporting it.”
The Prescription Drug Affordability Commission, created five years ago, already has the ability to set payment limits, or UPLs, for state and local health plans. The new bill would expand the authority to impose the UPL on all Marylanders.
“For people who have insurance and have high copays… their copays will go down. If the insurance company pays much less for the drug, the coinsurance and copayment ratios will go down.” said Vinny DeMarco of the Mental Health Care for All Coalition, which advocated for the bill.
But Brad Stewart of the Maryland Technology Council, who also testified at the Senate finance hearing, isn’t convinced this will save patients money.
“This PDAB is not achieving that,” he said. “The goal is to lower the prices state and local governments pay for drugs, but no one has yet testified or agreed that every dollar of those savings will be passed on to consumers.”
“Five years ago, this agency contracted with GoodRx and told everyone who came into a pharmacy in Maryland, just have a paper card and don’t charge us anymore.” At that rate. “We would have saved tens of millions of dollars a year by now,” he claimed.
Opponents also argued that the bill would keep rare and expensive medicines out of the state and could force people to leave Maryland to seek them.
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