Congress Passes Bills to Eliminate Drug Price “Gag Clauses” on Pharmacists

Congress Passes Bills to Eliminate Drug Price “Gag Clauses” on Pharmacists

This week the House passed two bills that would make it illegal for Medicare plans (S. 2553) and commercial insurance plans (S. 2554) to prohibit pharmacists from informing patients that the cash price for a drug is lower than their insurance copay. Both bills had cleared the Senate earlier this month and will be sent to the President. This legislation goes further than the memo CMS issued earlier this year to Medicare Part D plan sponsors stating that it considers such “gag clauses” unacceptable.

Contributed from “Justice in Aging”