Bill To Increase The Authority Of The Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board Could Go Before The 2025 General Assembly

The legislation would allow the board to set price caps for prescription drug costs for all Marylanders.Annapolis, Md (KM) Legislation to let the Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board set upper payment limits on high cost prescription drugs is expected to be introduced during the 2025 General Assembly. That announcement was made during a news conference in Annapolis on Thursday.One the lead sponsors is State Senator Dawn Gile from Anne Arundel County. “The recent action of the Legislative Policy Committee to approve the board’s upper payment limit action plan promises upcoming relief for our state and local government budgets, the fact remains that  we must do more to directly help Marylanders to afford their mediations,”: she says.On Tuesday, the Legislative Policy Committee approved a plan to allow the board to cap the price paid by state and local governments for high cost prescription drugs for their employees.Another lead sponsor of the legislation to extend the board’s power is Delegate Bonnie Cullison  of Montgomery County. “Giving our Prescription Drug Affordability Board the authority to set statewide upper payment limits is what we always intended so that it would have benefit to all Marylanders. And it’s the best way to ensure all Marylanders have access to the medicines that they need,”: she says.Delegate Jennifer White Holland, another lead sponsor of the bill, was also on hand at the news conference. “Prescription drug costs continue to remain a pressing issue with all Marylanders. However, Black Marylanders are faced with additional burdens due to the persistence racial health disparities,’ she said.Holland said Black and Latino adults age 65 and up often report difficulty affording their prescriptions one-and-a-half to  two times higher than White people. Further, she says several drugs which that experienced price increases are used to treat chronic conditions. Holland said one example is myeloma which, she says, is disproportionally diagnosed in Black patients.Tammy Bresnahan, AARP’ Maryland’s Senior Director of Advocacy, spoke in support of this initiative. “Maryland’s landmark Prescription Drug Affordability Board now, as you’ve heard, has the authority to establish upper payment limits,”: she said. “While this promises to help the  strained budgets of state and local government, we need it  to be expanded to help all Marylanders.”Bresnahan  said AARP has 800,000 members in Maryland.During the new conference, Senator Gile said she was told  by an opponent of expanding the Board’s power that any savings would be “eaten up” by middlemen. She disputed that. “We’re confident that upper payment limits will, in fact, do the opposite both increasing transparency along the supply chain, and eliminating the need for the opaque rebate practices that are pervasive in our current system,”: she said.The news conference was sponsored by  Maryland Health Care for All.The 2025 Maryland General Assembly begins its 90-day session on January 8th of next year.By Kevin McManus