Assembly Bill 310 (Ma) re "tiered pricing" of medications

Assembly Bill 310 (Ma) would put a stop to so-called "tiered pricing" of medications. Currently, an insured person may be required to make co-payment for prescribed medication. Usually the payment will be a fixed amount, that is, a fixed-dollar amount. Insurance companies want patients to pay more for some medicines than others, that is, not a fixed-dollar ammount, but a percentage of the cost. That means patients will pay more for certain medications than for others despite being insured. The percentage may rise or fall at the pleasure of the insurance company which may use this method to delay or defray outright raises in insurance premiums. AB 310 will limit the amount of co-payment that the insurance company can force subscribers to pay. At the time of this writing this legislation would target medications costing more than $150 per month.

Pharmaceutical companies favor the bill because it'll make their medications, especially the expensive ones, more accessible. Physicians should favor the bill because it'll remove one more layer of bureaucratic utilization control. Currently, physicians may prescribe the best medication for their patients only to find out that the insurance company for the patient has put the medication out of reach. Meanwhile, the physician retains medical liability.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma previously carried AB 245 which would have required government agencies including the medical board to expunge unproved allegations against accused physicians from government websites. That bill did not pass. This one should.

This writer called Speaker Perez's office to request that AB 310 come to the floor for a vote.