Bill Would Reduce Cost Of Prescriptions Capitol Comments

Senator Robert Menendez

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee which has jurisdiction over national health care policy, and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act – vitally important bipartisan legislation to tackle one of the biggest drivers of the high cost of prescription drugs, particularly for senior adults on Medicare. This builds on Sen. Menendez’s other legislative efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs for patients at the pharmacy counter.

The Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act would ensure that patients can finally benefit from lower-cost products instead of being forced to pay for higher-priced drugs solely because of pricing gimmicks used by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the drug pricing middlemen. This legislation would clearly establish pricing “tiers” to separate lower-cost generic drugs and biosimilar products from name-brand drugs so that patients pay less out of pocket for truly lower-priced drugs, therefore incentivizing prices to drop for patients.

“I’m proud to be working with Sen. Lankford on this bipartisan solution, which takes on PBM discriminatory formulary practices that unfairly drive up the costs of prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare Part D,” said Menendez. “I am committed to lower costs for my constituents and Americans all across the country at the pharmacy counter, and this legislation is another step towards reforming PBMs so they cannot continue gaming the system on the backs of patients.”

The Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act requires: Medicare Part D to cover a generic or biosimilar if it costs less than its namebrand counterpart. Generic drugs or biosimilars to be placed