This week, Congress is keeping its eye on drug pricing with a reported hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee. This comes on the heels of the full E&C Committee advancing six pieces of bipartisan legislation for full floor consideration. The legislation centers mostly on requiring various disclosures, such as requiring drug manufacturers justify drug price increases or legislation to require PBMs disclose aggregate rebates. This issue will stay relevant among policymakers and the Administration for the foreseeable future. In fact, several of the bills have already been introduced in the Senate.
Last week, Senator Lamar Alexander, Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, signaled he intends to draft a broad package with the Finance Committee to lower drug costs. Among the proposals being considered include expanding the Administration’s point-of-sale rebate proposal to the commercial market. This proposal currently would only apply to Medicare and Medicaid. It’s important for stakeholders to closely monitor legislative markers put forth by both Democrats and Republicans on the committees of jurisdiction as this effort ramps up.
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