Committee supports Sen. Bailey bill to increase access to mail-order prescription drugs

AUGUSTA — Yesterday, the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee gave its unanimous, bipartisan support to a bill from Sen. Donna Bailey, D-Saco. LD 2005, “An Act Regarding Mail Order Delivery of Prescription Drugs,” seeks to increase access to prescriptions when mail-order prescription drugs arrive late or in an unusable condition.

“I am grateful for the committee giving its unanimous, bipartisan support to this bill,” said Sen. Bailey. “Across the state, Mainers experience delays and disruptions to mail delivery service all year long. Although we — as state lawmakers — cannot take direct action to change or improve the USPS, we can take action to help Mainers who receive their medications in the mail. When a medication arrives late or damaged, it is only right that a person should be able to go to the local pharmacy and receive a replacement — at no additional cost.”

Mail-order pharmacies, which ship medication to patients’ homes, protect access to prescription drugs for Mainers who cannot pick up prescriptions in person at their local brick-and-mortar pharmacies or who live in pharmacy deserts. Sen. Bailey’s bill seeks to bolster those protections by ensuring mail-order pharmacy users are guaranteed access to a backup plan should their medications arrive damaged or dangerously late.

During the work session, the bill was amended to ensure that a person can get their mail-order prescription drug at an in-network pharmacy if the mail-order prescription drug arrives more than one day after the expected delivery date — or in an unusable condition. It would also ensure that a person would not have to pay additional co-payments, co-insurance payments or out-of-pocket payments for getting their prescription drug at the pharmacy.

Recently, Washington State enacted a similar law. It requires that, if a covered person uses a mail-order pharmacy, the Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM) must allow for dispensing at a local network pharmacy if the mail-order is delayed by more than one day after the expected delivery date provided by the mail-order pharmacy — or if the order arrives in an unusable condition.

In the coming weeks, the LD 2005 will face votes in the full Senate and House.

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