Tell Your Lawmaker: REJECT LD 1580

LD 1580 is a Big Pharma-driven proposal targeting pay-for-performance in the private health care market that would increase health care costs for Maine patients, unions and employers.

Instead of lowering the cost of prescription drugs, this bill undermines market-based savings, drives up insurance premiums and increases out-of-pocket costs for over 716,000 Maine residents who rely on employer or union-provided health coverage.

This proposal is not about protecting patients—they’re about protecting Big Pharma’s profits.

Tell your lawmaker to reject LD 1580 today.

Dear [Lawmaker],

Thank you for your service to the people of Maine. I write to encourage you to oppose LD 1580, which would hike health care costs for hundreds of thousands of patients, employers and union members in Maine, all while boosting profits for pharmaceutical companies.
Maine families, many of whom rely on an employer or union for their coverage, deserve access to affordable, high-quality health care. LD 1580 would ban pay-for-performance incentives in the private health care marketplace that are essential for employers and unions to secure significant savings on prescription drugs, directly leading to higher premium costs for patients. 
An analysis of this policy, called “delinking,” conducted by the former chief economist for the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means, found it would cause premiums for Maine patients and families to increase by more than a hundred million dollars in the first year alone — with that lost savings instead going into Big Pharma’s pockets.
This would place an unsustainable burden on people in our communities already dealing with several years of elevated costs on essential everyday goods. It would worsen Maine’s climate for growth and opportunity, making it more challenging for employers and unions to offer affordable, high-quality health care coverage.
That is because employers and unions rely on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to pool their negotiating power — unlocking savings based on volume and using that savings to lower cost-sharing for the people whose insurance they sponsor, including on monthly premiums. Employers and unions should be free to pay for the services of the PBM they’ve voluntarily elected to hire based on what they know is best for their business, union and community of people, including by incentivizing the PBM to secure greater savings negotiating on their behalf, which helps lower prescription drug costs for Maine families.
LD 1580 does nothing to address the cause of high prescription drug costs. Instead, it would undermine savings, competition and flexibility in the private market, exacerbating challenges of affordability and rewarding Big Pharma for egregious price-gouging and anti-competitive practices. 
Patients and families in Maine cannot afford astronomical increases to their health care costs. That’s why I urge you to oppose “delinking” and reject LD 1580.
Thank you for your consideration and for your commitment to the people you represent.

Sincerely,
______

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