Coloradans fear plans to cut prescription drug prices could take away access [Video]

DENVER — In a first-in-the-nation step, a Colorado board is considering setting maximum costs for “unaffordable” medications. But some caregivers and patients with rare illnesses are raising concerns the price caps could have unintended consequences — like taking away access altogether.

“Everybody wants things to be affordable. But if you just take away the access, that’s not okay,” said Jennifer Reinhardt, whose daughter has a rare disease.

With cystic fibrosis, Reinhardt said her daughter experiences “constant lung infections until they can’t be treated anymore, and then you either have a lung transplant or you die,” Reinhardt said.

But a prescription drug, TRIKAFTA, is controlling the infections and saving her daughter’s life.

That’s why Reinhardt is so alarmed that Coloradans like her daughter could lose access to their medications, as an unintended consequence of a new experimental board.

Colorado created the Prescription Drug Affordability Board(PDAB) three years ago to review prescription drug prices and determine whether certain …