930 WFMD Free Talk
Kevin McManus
October 3, 2018
They include a few from Frederick County.
Frederick, Md (KM). Legislation to set up a Prescription Drug Affordabilty Board has received the support of 130 candidates running for the General Assembly. They include Frederick County State Senator Ron Young, and Delegates Karen Lewis Young and Carol Krimm. Other candidates supporting the bill include Darrin Smith and Lois Jarman, who are running for District 4 Delegates, and and Jessica Douglass, who is running the State Senate from District 4..
“The purpose of this board is to make high cost prescription drugs more affordable for Marylanders,” says Vinnie DeMarco, President of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative.
He says the legislation would set up a board which would require drug manufacturers to justify the high cost of their medications. The panel would also establish a reasonable price Marylanders would pay for their life-saving prescription medications “which will make sure the drug corporations make the money they need for the research they need to do, and for reasonable profits” says DeMarco. “But also these drugs need to be affordable.”
Similar legislation was introduced during the 2018 Maryland General Assembly, but it didn’t pass. DeMarco hopes it will make it out of the 2019 legislative session because of the support from these candidates. . :”Candidates for office have endorsed this because they hear from their constituents. ‘We need you to do something about high cost prescription drugs,’” he says. “And we plan to make this a priority for our organization to get passed next year.”
The Maryland Citizens Health Initiative has also heard from residents complaining about the high cost of prescription medications. “We know that these are lifesaving drugs, and we appreciate the drug corporations making them for people. But drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them,” says DeMarco.
Even though a majority of the candidates on this list are Democrats, there are a few Republicans who support this bill. They are Senate candidate Stephanie Boston, along with House of Delegates candidates Rick Impallaria and Harvey Jacobs.
Last modified: October 3, 2018
