Delegate Stephanie Smith rose to remind her colleagues in the House of Delegates chamber about the rules of decorum at the conclusion of the floor session on Friday.
The discussion followed an especially heated debate over the Lowering Prescription Drugs for Marylanders Now Act, which was on third reader.
"Relax, if you can," Speaker Adrienne Jones said to delegates trying to talk over each other insisting that another delegate had gone over his allotted time.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: MD lawmakers push for expansion of prescription drug affordability board
Debate over whether or not the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, worked and how President Trump's executive actions might impact healthcare costs were brought into the debate.
"This is one of those bills where I think everyone in here agrees on the intent of the bill," said Del. Brian Chisolm (R) of Anne Arundel County, before explaining why he doesn't think this bill would work. "I pray that I'm wrong about this."
Delegate Bonnie Cullison, the vice chair of the Health and Government Operations Committee, spoke in favor of the bill.
"On Tuesday, the minority leader asked me a really good question. He said, 'what does the bill do?'" Cullison began. "I gave this long-winded technical response about how the mechanisms of the board works..."
She went on to explain, for the people who don't live in the world of health insurance, that this is very similar to what other countries do.
"It's actually not a crazy idea. It's actually analogous to the process most first world other countries use in order to determine what their cost is going to be for prescription drugs in their countries," Cullison said.
In summary, she added, what the bill does is allow the Prescription Drug Affordability Board to negotiate prices for all Marylanders, not just those on state plans.
It is worth noting that while the Prescription Drug Affordability Board has been around for several years, it has not yet limited the cost of any drug.
The bill passed third reading in the House, 94-38. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
