The co-founder of Patients Rising said a pending proposal to create a Virginia “drug affordability board” would put access to medications at risk.
“Patients should be the ones driving the conversation about their healthcare, not bureaucratic boards that have failed to deliver results in every state that has tried them,” said Terry Wilcox, Co-Founder and CEO of Patients Rising, in a post on the group’s website. “Virginia families deserve better than a costly experiment that puts access to their medications at risk.”
Wilcox made her comments as Virginia lawmakers consider Senate Bill 271, legislation that would establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Advisory Panel tasked with analyzing drug pricing trends and recommending policies aimed at improving prescription drug affordability across the Commonwealth.
Under the proposal, the panel would study prescription drug pricing trends and provide policy recommendations to state officials on ways to address rising drug costs.
Prescription drug affordability boards are state regulatory panels that review the cost of medicines and, in some cases, can impose “upper payment limits” that cap what insurers and government programs reimburse for certain drugs.
Maryland created the first such board in 2019, and several other states have since adopted similar models, including Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.
Patients Rising said the boards in those have not produced measurable savings for patients in states where they have been implemented.
The proposal under consideration in Virginia would also require state funding to establish and operate the board. A fiscal impact statement prepared by the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget estimated the program would require roughly $895,740 to $1.14 million annually for staffing, administration and legal support.
Virginia lawmakers are expected to continue debating the proposed drug affordability board legislation as it moves through the General Assembly.
Patients Rising is a national nonprofit advocacy organization that focuses on policies affecting patient access, affordability and transparency in the U.S. healthcare system.
