BY KARIN SANCHEZ
PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17TH, 2022
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, and U.S. Senators Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich discussed with the community in a closed-off roundtable how the Inflation Reduction Act will lower the price of prescription drugs.
President Biden signed the inflation reduction act on Tuesday, August 6, which allowed Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs.
Leaders in New Mexico looked to take that one step further.
While Medicare is allowed to lower the cost of prescriptions, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the state needs to fill in gaps within the Inflation Reduction Act to improve access to affordable medication.
The state of New Mexico looked to pass a bill called the Prescription Drug Affordability Act.
The bill would create an advisory board, which leaders said would consist of appointed experts that would negotiate on the behalf of New Mexicans to hold drug companies accountable and incentivize lower prices for prescription drugs.
“This President, this senate, this secretary got it over the finish line and now New Mexicans are going to get access to life-saving treatment in ways they just didn’t have before,” said Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico Governor.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services said New Mexicans will not be seeing a drastic change in medication prices until 2026.