Our nation can eliminate both HIV and viral hepatitis, but without an infusion of new resources to accelerate our efforts, we will continue to fall short of these ambitious goals. Current discussions involving budget caps that reduce non-defense discretionary appropriations would have devastating impacts on our nation’s public health system and our ability to respond to these two infectious diseases.
HIV+Hep strongly supports the “Copay Accumulator Amendment Act of 2021” (Bill 25-0141). It simply requires that the copay assistance beneficiaries receive counts towards their out-of-pocket obligation. By signing this law, DC will join 17 other states (Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and Virginia) and Puerto Rico in protecting consumers by assuring their copay assistance will count towards cost-sharing obligations.
We voice our strong support for Senate Bill 0799 (“Relating to Insurance–Prescription Drug Benefits”) which would require health insurers to accept and count payments made on behalf of patients towards deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. We thank you for holding a hearing on this important issue and ask that you pass the bill as soon as possible.
We strongly support your bipartisan leadership in taking action to address some of the abusive practices Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) engage in that hinder patient access and the affordability of prescription drugs. While most people think insurers make the majority of decisions regarding health coverage and affordability, when it comes to prescription drugs, it is PBMs that drive many of the decisions as to what medications a beneficiary can access and how much they pay for them.
Given the importance of medications to the health and well-being of people living with and at risk of HIV, people with hepatitis B & C, and their growing reliance on Medicare for prescription drugs, we are keenly interested in the implementation of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program that CMS is setting up as required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).