The regulation of drug prices has received significant recent bipartisan support in Congress. Democrats and Republicans in both houses have proposed approximately eighty bills relating to drug pricing over the past two years. The charts below summarize the key provisions of representative bills.[i]
Although the proposed price-regulating mechanisms differ from bill to bill, the bills do not indicate a clear difference in the parties’ goals when viewed at a high level. Many of the proposed bills focus on price transparency as well as reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Certain bills would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide data on, and justifications for, the pricing of certain drugs that would exceed specified price increase limits. These bills usually include penalties for reporting failures; however, they usually do not provide a procedure to lower a price that triggers the reporting provisions. Instead, they often establish or enhance public databases for the reported information, and some go as far as requiring pharmacists to communicate this information to the patient at the point of sale.
Other proposed bills would set caps on drug pricing, albeit through different approaches. Certain bills would require HHS to negotiate drug prices with the manufacturers of covered drugs, for example, and some of these bills grant HHS the power to establish a price if an agreement is not reached.
Although many bills on this topic have been proposed throughout the current legislative session, most are stalled in committee, often since their day of introduction.
There is one notable exception: on December 12, 2019, H.R. 3 passed the House, albeit almost entirely along party lines. If enacted in its current form, it would directly regulate drug prices by creating a price ceiling based on drug price averages in designated reference countries. H.R. 3 would also give the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to promulgate rules relating to drug price disclosures in pharmaceutical advertisements (such as the Trump Administration’s recently-defeated Disclosure Rule) and would require CMS to negotiate drug prices. As a Democrat-sponsored bill, however, its fate in the current Senate is uncertain.
Regardless of the outcome of the November 2020 election, the bipartisan push for drug pricing regulation may foreshadow the passage of such legislation in the near future. We will continue to monitor Congress’s efforts to regulate in this area and provide updates.
[i] The charts below summarize selected drug pricing bills put forth in the 116th Congress. Although these lists are not exhaustive, they provide examples of the types of price-regulating measures under consideration. These bills were identified by searching congress.gov for the terms “drug pricing” and “drug price.”
Senate Bills
Bill No. | Introduced | Status | Summary of Selected Key Points |
Lowering Prescription Drug Prices for America’s Seniors and Families Act of 2020 |
03/03/2020
Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) |
03/03/2020 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
Prescription Drug Affordability and Access Act |
01/08/2020
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) |
01/08/2020 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2019 |
12/19/2019
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) |
12/19/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance. |
|
Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019 |
09/25/2019
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) |
09/25/2019 Legislative Calendar under General Orders (Calendar No. 225)
S. 4199 (introduced 07/02/2020) reintroduces S. 2543 |
|
End Price Gouging for Medications Act |
06/26/2019
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) |
06/26/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Prescription Drug Price Reporting Act |
05/23/2019
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) |
05/23/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Drug-price Transparency in Communications (DTC) Act |
05/13/2019
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) |
05/13/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
Fair Accountability and Innovative Research Drug Pricing Act of 2019 |
05/09/2019
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) |
05/09/2019 Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Transparent Drug Pricing Act of 2019 |
04/01/2019
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) |
04/01/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Prescription Drug Pricing Dashboard Act |
03/07/2019
Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) |
03/07/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
CURE High Drug Prices Act |
02/28/2019
Sponsor: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
|
02/28/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Stopping the Pharmaceutical Industry from Keeping drugs Expensive (SPIKE) Act of 2019 |
02/13/2019
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) |
02/13/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
Stop Price Gouging Act |
02/07/2019
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) |
02/07/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2019 |
01/10/2019
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) |
01/10/2019 Referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
|
Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act
|
01/10/2019
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) |
01/10/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate Drug Prices Act of 2019
|
01/09/2019
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) |
01/09/2019 Referred to Committee on Finance |
|
House Bills
Bill No. | Introduced | Status | Summary of Selected Key Points |
Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act of 2019 |
12/03/2019
Rep. Earl L. Carter (R-GA-1)
|
12/04/2019 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health |
|
Prescription Drug Price Reporting Act |
11/21/2019
Rep. David P. Joyce (R-OH-14) |
11/22/2019 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health |
|
Life-Sustaining Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2019 |
11/12/2019
Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL-3) |
11/13/2019 Referred to Subcommittee on Health. |
|
Affordable Pricing for Taxpayer-Funded Prescription Drugs Act of 2019 |
10/11/2019
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR-4) |
10/14/2019 Referred to Subcommittee on Health |
|
Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act |
09/19/2019
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-6) |
12/12/2019 Passed House
Senate – 09/08/2020 Placed on Legislative Calendar (General Orders, Calendar No. 521) |
|
Price Relief, Innovation, and Competition for Essential Drugs Act |
06/20/2019
Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL-9) |
06/21/2019 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health |
|
Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts and Real-Time Beneficiary Drug Cost Act |
04/08/2019
Rep. Abigail Davis Spanberger (D-VA-7) |
10/28/2019 Passed House
Senate – 10/29/2019 Committee on Finance |
|
Drug Price Transparency Act |
04/04/2019
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-35)
|
05/21/2019 Subcommittee hearings |
|
Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act |
02/06/2019
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE-At Large) |
05/16/2019 Passed House
Senate – 05/20/2019 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
|
|
Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act |
01/10/2019
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD-7) |
09/25/2019 Subcommittee Hearings Held |
|
Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2019
|
01/08/2019
Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT-At Large) |
09/25/2019 Subcommittee Hearings Held |
|
[1] The charts above summarize selected drug pricing bills put forth in the 116th Congress. Although these lists are not exhaustive, they provide examples of the types of price-regulating measures under consideration. These bills were identified by searching congress.gov for the terms “drug pricing” and “drug price.”