In Review: The Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services (HCIFS) held a work session on LD 1165, which deals with point-of-sale rebates. There was a lot of discussion among the committee on how to move forward with the bill, and ultimately, the committee voted to pass as amended. The amendment would require rebates to be offered at the point-of-sale to cover a patient’s out-of-pocket costs, but any amount of the rebate in excess of a patient’s out-of-pocket requirement would go back to the plan to lower premiums. The committee clerk must draft language to reflect this, and a fiscal note for the state employee plan will be generated. Next, there will be a language review with the committee, and we anticipate the fiscal note tied to this will urge the committee to reconsider the bill. LD 1829, a reference pricing bill, also had a hearing, but the committee voted to table the bill until next week. Prior to the vote, the bill sponsor introduced an amendment to strike the bill’s language and replace it with adding powers to the Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB). The PDAB was established in 2019 through legislation but has never been funded. This amendment would fund the PDAB while also giving them the power to establish upper payment limits and set a reference price.

Up Next: HCIFS will hold a work session on Tuesday, January 30, to discuss LD 796 (prior auth) and LD 1829 (PDAB), where we anticipate the committee will vote.

If you have any questions, please contact Sam Hallemeier at shallemeier@pcmanet.org.