AARP Maryland Calls for Expanded Prescription Drug Affordability Board Oversight

(Annapolis, MD – October 24, 2024) – AARP Maryland is urging the Maryland General Assembly to expand the Prescription Drug Affordability Board’s authority to bring down costs for all Marylanders. The organization, which represents the interest of older Marylanders, including its 800,000 members across the state, will issue the call to action at a press conference today hosted by the Health Care for All Coalition and lead legislative sponsors, Senator Dawn Gile and Delegates Bonnie Cullison and Jennifer White Holland.

“Ensuring prescription drug prices are reasonable and justified results in better access and affordability for consumers,” said AARP Maryland State Director Hank Greenberg. “It’s only fair. Because drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them.”

Established in 2019, the Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) evaluates drug prices and sets upper payment limits for high-cost drugs covered by state and local government health plans, but its reach currently does not apply to non-governmental payors. On the federal level, AARP supported the Inflation Reduction Act which allowed Medicare to negotiate and lower drug costs for more than one million Marylanders enrolled in the program. Starting in 2025, all Medicare plans will impose a $2,000 cap on what individuals pay out of pocket for covered prescription drugs, saving patients thousands of dollars.

"In 2026, Medicare enrollees can expect to see savings from the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which has negotiated prices for ten prescription drug products, including prescription drugs commonly used to treat diabetes and heart disease. Not only will this help the out-of-pocket costs for recipients, but it will save taxpayers billions of dollars. This progress is incredible, but we must build on it. We need to strengthen our Prescription Drug Affordability Board so that it can do the same for the millions of other Marylanders who are not Medicare enrollees," said Greenberg.

“We have long championed the cause of prescription drug affordability, including transparency and containment of prescription drug costs for consumers and are proud of our role in the establishment of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board – in the face of fierce industry opposition,” Greenberg continued. “The board has made tremendous progress in building a framework for analyzing the cost of prescription drugs to state and local government health plans and we would like to see the same oversight extended to all Marylanders.”

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