Lawmakers: Maryland must expand reach of prescription drug board | READER COMMENTARY

As elected officials, we repeatedly hear from constituents sharing heartbreaking stories about their inability to pay for the prescription medications they need to stay healthy.

People on fixed incomes, those with limited resources and hardworking families can struggle to pay for those prescriptions. All too often, people are forced to go without medications, or they take less than what is prescribed to extend how long they can use the drugs.

This is unacceptable, and it’s why an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly in 2019 created the Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board to lead the state’s fight to bring down the cost of expensive drugs (“Drugs don’t work if patients can’t afford them,” Nov. 28).

The board, the first of its kind in the nation, has worked tirelessly to determine how to bring down the high costs. The landmark 2019 law charged the board with developing strategies to aid local and state governments in reducing the cost of providing prescriptions to their employees, a recognition of just how much governments must pay for drug coverage for their employees.

The board will soon take a major step and announce upper payment limits for certain expensive drugs. This will help bring down drug costs for governments and save taxpayer dollars. It’s an important step forward in our campaign to make drugs more affordable.

But we must not stop there. Now it’s time to expand the board’s authority. In the 2024 legislative session in Annapolis, we will be working to authorize the board to implement similar upper payment limits for high-cost drugs for all Marylanders.

Maryland was a trailblazer in creating the drug affordability board, and several other states have followed our lead by creating similar boards. Three of these states, Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington, have given their drug boards full authority to come up with upper payment limits for all drug purchasers. Similar action is urgently needed in Maryland.

Consider that in 2022, drugmakers hiked prices on eight widely used medicines — without any evidence to justify the price bumps — forcing U.S. patients and insurers to spend an additional $1.2 billion that year. These kinds of increases are common.

A recent poll showed that a staggering 45% of Marylanders have had trouble paying for their medications. Expanding the board’s authority will, over time, bring down the cost of those medications, saving people money at the pharmacy counter and helping them lead healthier lives.

Further, this is an issue that affects us all. CareFirst, the large nonprofit insurer, has determined that a full one-third of the premium costs it charges for insurance stem from the cost of drugs. As drug costs rise, they drive up the cost of insurance premiums for all of us, whether or not we are taking expensive medications. It’s a hidden premium tax on all of us, and it’s time to tackle it head-on.

Through the work of the Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition, more than 450 labor, community and health organizations, as well as many businesses, have signed on to support the campaign to meet our drug cost crisis and expand the board’s authority. Polling shows the public strongly backs the idea.

The U.S. is a global leader in developing drugs to help people stay healthy. Unfortunately, our complex health care finance system allows prices for those medications to skyrocket. It’s time to act. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them.

— Brian Feldman, Dawn Gile, Bonnie Cullison and Jennifer White Holland, Annapolis

Sen. Brian Feldman is chair of the Maryland Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee and represents District 15 in Montgomery County. Sen. Dawn Gile represents District 33 in Anne Arundel County. Del. Bonnie Cullison is vice chair of the House Health and Government Operations Committee and represents District 19 in Montgomery County. Del. Jennifer White Holland represents District 10 in Baltimore County. All are Democrats.

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