Maine Senate passes Sen. Bailey bill to increase access to mail-order prescription drugs

AUGUSTA — Yesterday, the Maine Senate gave 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 that my colleagues gave their unanimous support to this bill,” said Sen. Bailey. “It is a clear example of a bill, which I hope will soon become law, that can improve the lives of the people we serve and represent here in Augusta. If it becomes law, then the Mainers who depend upon the mail for prescription drugs will have some protection if their medicine arrives late or in an unusable condition.”

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.

As amended, the bill would 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.

LD 2005 now goes to the Governor’s desk, where she has 10 days to sign it, allow it to become law without her signature or veto it.

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