02/10/2021

The NPF is the leading patient advocacy group for over 8.3 million Americans and the more than 152,000 Marylanders living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I write to you today to express NPF’s support for HB 167, Out-of-Pocket Maximums and Cost-Sharing Requirements – Calculation and respectfully request you vote SB 290 out of committee.

A 2020 NPF survey found that only 3 in 10 people with psoriatic disease with incomes between $50,000 and $99,999 could afford their treatments without copay assistance. During this current pandemic, NPF is concerned that the Marylanders living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are potentially at higher risk of complications or death from COVID-19. It is of utmost importance that unnecessary barriers to the appropriate treatments are removed for patients – such as high out-of-pocket costs.