Patients Rising Backs Senator McGough’s Push for New Hampshire Healthcare Transparency

New Hampshire healthcare transparency took a major step forward today as Patients Rising announced its strong support for State Senator Tim McGough’s healthcare transparency proposals: SB 477 and SB 478.

"Patients deserve to know whether programs created in their name are working as intended," explains Terry Wilcox, Co-Founder and Chief Mission Officer. "SB 477 moves New Hampshire closer to that goal while respecting the boundaries of the federal program."

On January 21, Patients Rising submitted written testimony to the New Hampshire Senate Health and Human Services Committee, backing Senator McGough’s common sense measures to restore trust, accountability, and affordability in the state.

A Champion for Transparency

Senator McGough has emerged as a staunch advocate for patients, arguing that the status quo of secrecy in healthcare pricing is no longer sustainable.

In a recent op-ed at the NH Journal, McGough laid out the stakes for patients.

"For too long, Granite Staters have been asked to navigate the health care system blindfolded — forced to accept prices they cannot see, pharmacy costs they cannot predict, and industry practices they cannot reasonably understand," he wrote. "This legislative session, New Hampshire has an opportunity to restore honesty and accountability in health care and put patients first."

"New Hampshire has an opportunity to restore honesty and accountability in health care and put patients first."

Patients Rising praised Senator McGough for bringing more transparency to the 340B program.

"SB 477 and SB 478 advance a shared principle: patients should not be the last to know how their healthcare dollars are being used," said Wilcox of Patients Rising. "Transparency and accountability are essential to affordability, trust, and long-term system sustainability."

SB 477: Transparency on 340B

Known as the "Sunshine in Savings Act," SB 477 increases transparency in the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The federal 340B program was created to help safety-net providers stretch scarce resources and better serve vulnerable patients. However, the lack of consistent public reporting has made it increasingly difficult for patients, policymakers, and regulators to understand whether those savings are reaching the people the program was designed to help.

Senator McGough’s legislation does not seek to punish hospitals or interfere with federal pricing. Instead, it asks for basic accountability. As McGough explained, patients currently have "no insight into how savings are used."

SB 477 establishes uniform reporting requirements so New Hampshire can finally understand:

• Where the money goes: Are revenues being used to improve patient access and affordability?
• Who benefits: Are the savings reaching the vulnerable patients the program was designed to help?

Real Accountability for PBMs (SB 478)

SB 478, the "Prescription Drug Affordability and PBM Accountability Act," will ensure accountability for pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs.

PBMs act as healthcare middlemen, managing the prescription drug benefits process for health insurance companies. SB 478 takes decisive action to realign these incentives. The bill aims to:

• Eliminate "Spread Pricing": This stops the practice where PBMs charge a plan one price for a drug, pay the pharmacy a lower price, and pocket the difference.
• Pass Through Rebates: It requires that rebates and discounts flow back to plans and consumers to lower costs at the pharmacy counter.
• Delink Compensation: PBMs should be paid for the service they provide, not incentivized to favor more expensive drugs just to get a bigger cut of the list price.

Senator McGough rightly points out that these reforms are about fairness.

"They deserve medications priced according to clinical value, not according to the size of a rebate check," he said.