📌 TL;DR:

• NH has a 5-person Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) with only one full-time staff member. Its mission? Develop data-backed health policy proposals to increase access and affordability.
• Despite 17–0 subcommittee approval for a bill expanding the board’s ability to enforce fair pricing and increase efficiency using data already collected by another state agency, the current budget defunds the PDAB — even after it identified $6 million in savings through state-level pricing on the 10 most common drugs.
• The NH AARP, NH Medical Society, and multiple other organizations have made strong statements opposing the PDAB’s discontinuance — more information here.

 

 
 

Dear NH Neighbors,

 

As a Navy wife living with a rare disease, I rely on multiple specialty medications just to stay out of the hospital. Like over half of us, I’ve worried this year whether I could afford a prescription. We’re not alone: 7 in 10 of us faced at least one barrier to healthcare access in 2024 (New Futures, 2024).

 

I’ve already had hospital stays extended by days due to delays in specialty supplies and a low-efficiency GI tract. The already scarce supply of liquid medications I disproportionately depend on is more than a far-off threat — and has led to some impossible conversations. We even cut expenses by changing our plans to spend our first wedding anniversary locally — part of which we devoted to this.

 

Cooper has received a Red Cross (health emergency) call while thousands of miles and months away, and at other times has gone straight from weeks at sea to me in the hospital.

 

That’s why I’m asking you to help save New Hampshire’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) — our state’s only independent watchdog for medication pricing. Despite bipartisan support (17–0 in committee) and ~$6 million in proposed savings via state-specific policy, the House has chosen not to fund the agency or its single paid full-time staff member (the Executive Director — the board is composed of volunteers).

 

Without action, June will be the final month New Hampshire residents have a state entity dedicated to safeguarding prescription drug affordability.

 

 
 

Please sign this petition, and visit https://new-futures.org/Prescription-Drugs for pre-made messages you can send to your representatives and a form to share your story about why prescription affordability matters to you.

 

 
 

Thank you, from our family to yours. We are grateful to be your neighbors and proud to be part of our new community.

 

Wishing you health and happiness,

Rachel + Cooper B.

 

Note: I have no professional or financial ties to the PDAB.