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Prescription Drug Affordability Board presents business cases; committee seeks savings offsets and retains repeal bill for study
Summary
Division III said the Prescription Drug Affordability Board provided three draft business cases — Medicare reference pricing, Humira biosimilar substitution and a discount-card initiative — and the committee adjusted PDAB funding downward while allowing a small non-lapsing carry-forward to cover contract timing.
Republican leaders told Division III they had worked with the Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) over the weekend and received three business-case documents that appear to justify continuing the board's baseline spending.
The PDAB presented business cases for (1) using Medicare reference pricing to lower state purchases for some drugs, (2) encouraging biosimilar uptake for high-cost biologics such as Humira, and (3) operating a discount card program (Ray RX) that could reduce pharmacy costs. Committee members said each business case projected positive returns — with multi-fold savings relative to the requested investment — but that the materials were still drafts and needed refinement for wider distribution.
Based on the new information, Division III proposed modestly reducing PDAB general-fund requests for the first and second years while allowing the board limited authority to carry forward a small amount of unspent funds between fiscal years to accommodate contract timing. The chair said PDAB asked to carry $60,000 to finalize a vendor contract; the committee proposed carrying $20,000 and reducing base appropriations in the first two years. Legislators characterized the change as a net reduction from the governor's ask but one that leaves the board enough resources to demonstrate savings.
Committee members also confirmed they had tabled a companion bill, House Bill 645, on PDAB data collection and reporting; the bill had passed committee unanimously earlier. The panel voted informally to keep the PDAB repeal/oversight language on the table for fall study rather than moving immediately to repeal the board.
Ending: Members asked for an improved, auditable business-plan format and for PDAB and staff to deliver refined business documents before the committee voted on final funding.
