The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee also held a hearing this week focused on new proposals to lower prescription drug costs. Specifically, the hearing concentrated on three new bills: the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2021 and the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act of 2021.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led the hearing, beginning with familiar rhetoric. “The United States pays by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” the chairman stated. “This is an immediate health crisis that must be addressed.” Prescription drug costs have been at the forefront of health policy over the last few years, with heightened scrutiny under the Trump Administration. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) highlighted drug manufacturers’ “gaming” of the patent system. Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) claimed that “employers and the government need to be able to negotiate with more bargaining power.”

The Prescription Drug Price Relief Act would peg the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. to the median price in Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Japan. This legislation is very similar to the “most favored nation” rule that began under the Trump Administration. That regulation, which was initially scheduled to go into effect January 1 before it became tied up in the courts, was structured as a seven-year Medicare “demonstration project” and as a mandatory model tying U.S. prices for affected drugs to those paid in a group of developed countries. That rule, however, would only regulate Medicare Part B drug prices, whereas the Drug Price Relief Act would apply to Medicare Part D.

Under current law, the secretary of HHS is prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries. The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act would eliminate this clause and empower the secretary to negotiate lower prices and direct the secretary to prioritize negotiating for drugs that “place the most burdens on seniors and taxpayers” (high-cost drugs, drugs that have significant price increases, drugs that drive up Medicare Part D spending and drugs without competition). The idea of Medicare negotiating drug prices has gained steam in Washington over the last few years.

The Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act would allow patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to import safe, affordable medicine from Canada and other major countries. This too is similar to regulation that began under the Trump Administration: The FDA released a final rule in September that cleared the way for states to import prescription drugs from Canada. The final rule implemented a provision of federal law that allows FDA-authorized programs to import certain prescription drugs from Canada under specific conditions that ensure the importation poses no additional risk to the public’s health and safety. NAHU submitted comments on the proposed rule one year ago. We emphasized that, while we support the intention behind the rule, importing prescription drugs from outside the United States does nothing to address why medications are so expensive when purchased within the United States.

NAHU is closely monitoring all pertinent legislation affecting drug prices and how they may affect costs and coverage for employers and individuals. We will continue to work with members of Congress and the Administration on new concepts that can reduce the costs of prescription drugs without shifting the burden onto employers and, in turn, workers and their families.