On Wednesday, Maryland Health Care for All launched a campaign calling on candidates for Maryland office to commit to a proposal to speed up the Prescription Drug Affordability Board's work.
The Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) recently set upper payment limits (UPLs) on two widely used prescription drugs, Ozempic and Jardiance.
"This will save state and local governments and all of us millions of dollars a year," said Vincent DeMarco, the president of the Maryland Health Care for All Coalition.
The coalition is asking candidates for governor and the General Assembly to support legislation next session that would allow the PDAB to move more quickly on drugs that already have Medicare-negotiated Maximum Fair Prices.
Candidates are asked to respond by Sept. 30 so that the coalition can publicly identify which candidates support the proposal.
"Medicare under the Biden administration and Trump administration has been negotiating with the drug corporations and have set maximum fair prices for 25 drugs. Soon, another 15; it will be 40 drugs," DeMarco said. "We want to give our board the authority to immediately say, those are smart things the federal government has done. Let's do that in Maryland. Marylanders should not be paying more for these high-cost drugs than Medicare is."
Groups like AARP and Public Citizen, along with Maryland Health Care for All, sent public comment letters urging the PDAB to put the Ozempic and Jardiance UPLs into place.
Other organizations, including the drugs' manufacturers and patient advocacy groups, argued that there are legal concerns with the UPLs, that they may not reduce patients' out-of-pocket costs, and that Medicare's Maximum Fair Price was designed for a different market.
DeMarco disputed those claims.
"The negotiation for Medicare is working," he says. "Medicare is now saving billions of dollars a year... these upper payment limits will similarly do that."
"Drugs don't work if people can't afford them," DeMarco added.
