No more surprise drug costs for chronically ill

Marylanders undergoing treatment for a chronic illness should not have to deal with surprise medical bills. Patients who receive a diagnosis for a serious illness such as cancer already deal with too many unpleasant surprises.

Current practices in our state make it so that a patient using copay assistance to fill a prescription for a lifesaving medication may incur hefty unexpected medical bills — a result of insurers not applying copayments to a patient’s deductible.

A recent survey from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) found that more than 80% of cancer patients and survivors say that copay assistance programs helped them to afford their prescription drugs.

As a cancer survivor, I know the stress that comes with each medical bill and not knowing the extent of the financial burden of treatment. State lawmakers have the opportunity to alleviate such stress for their chronically ill constituents.

Senate Bill 595/House Bill 879 in the Maryland General Assembly aims to curb this practice and create more predictability for patients facing high out-of-pocket costs for their medication. I recently joined 30 other advocates in a visit to Annapolis as a part of ACS CAN’s Cancer Action Day to stress the importance of this proposal.

I’m grateful a representative from state Sen. Antonio Hayes’ office sat down with me and listened as I explained how critical it is that patients have access to affordable and predictable out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs.

— Katrina L. Shaw, Baltimore