Representative Sandy Levin recently introduced the Protecting Medicare from Excessive Price Increases Act, which would require prescription drug manufacturers to pay a rebate when the price of their Part B drug increases faster than inflation. Medicare Part B covers drugs that are usually not self-administered, such as many intravenous medications and chemotherapy drugs. Medicare Part D, on the other hand, generally covers self-administered outpatient prescription drugs.
“Medicare currently has no protection against excessive price increases for prescription drugs covered through Part B. . . this bill is an important step that will help strengthen the Medicare program and reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors,” Rep. Levin said in a statement.
The Center for Medicare Advocacy supports steps to rein in the high cost of prescription drugs.
- More information on the bill is available at: https://levin.house.gov/press-release/rep-levin-introduces-bill-strengthen-medicare-reduce-drug-costs-patients
- The text of the bill is available at: https://levin.house.gov/sites/levin.house.gov/files/20180301legislation_HRxxxx_S_Levin.pdf