Prescription drug bills introduced in Senate

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with several other Democratic senators, yesterday introduced bills aimed at increasing transparency for prescription drug prices and reducing costs for Medicare Part D enrollees. The Stopping the Pharmaceutical Industry from Keeping Drugs Expensive (SPIKE) Act (S. 474) would require the Health and Human Services Secretary to notify drug makers when the price of their drug increases beyond certain benchmarks, and require drug makers to submit a timely justification for price increases to HHS, among other provisions. The Creating Transparency to Have Drug Rebates Unlocked (C-THRU) Act (S. 476) would require pharmacy benefit managers to publicly disclose the aggregate amount of rebates they receive from pharmaceutical companies and the proportion of those rebates that go to Medicare beneficiaries, and base cost-sharing for Part D enrollees on the negotiated price of the drug, among other provisions. The Reducing Existing Costs Associated with Pharmaceuticals for Seniors (RxCAP) Act (S. 475) would eliminate all cost-sharing for Medicare Part D beneficiaries once they reach the catastrophic phase.