WASHINGTON, DC (July 25, 2019): The Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) announced its opposition today to an amendment offered by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) to the Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019, slated for markup today by the Senate Finance Committee.
The Stabenow Amendment #1 would repeal Medicare Part D’s non-interference clause, allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to intervene in private negotiations in the Medicare prescription drug program. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has previously said the effects of such a policy change would be “negligible.”
“Medicare Part D plans negotiate significant price discounts for Medicare beneficiaries. Senator Stabenow wants the government to negotiate prices instead of Part D plans. This would mess with a well working program by getting the government in seniors’ medicine cabinets. That’s not what they want,” said CAHC President Joel White. “Beneficiaries want the Part D they know – where premiums are flat and costs to the program are 50 percent less than originally expected. Not a dime will be saved by this bureaucratic meddling– a reality affirmed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. We urge Senators to reject this poison pill amendment “