Not even a pandemic can push Grassley-Wyden over the finish line
Lawmakers are hoping to soon pass a $2 trillion bill meant to support struggling hospitals and revive an economy paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic. And Sen. Chuck Grassley is worried that, in doing so, his colleagues will leave his bipartisan drug pricing bill in the dust.
Congress is also facing a fast-approaching deadline on renewing a key set of health care programs that’s set to expire in May — made all the more urgent by the prospect of lawmakers recessing for weeks at a time in an effort to observe social distancing.
For Grassley, there’s just one problem: He had been hoping, before this outbreak, that his drug pricing bill could move alongside that package, perhaps attached to another bill that bans surprise out-of-network medical bills. And at least right now, the drug pricing bill's not in the draft. (As a reminder: Grassley's bill caps out-of-pocket drug expenses for Medicare beneficiaries and caps drug price increases at the rate of inflation.)
A spokesman told STAT that the drug pricing bill wasn’t currently included in the Senate legislation, despite Grassley’s advocacy.
Congress is also facing a fast-approaching deadline on renewing a key set of health care programs that’s set to expire in May — made all the more urgent by the prospect of lawmakers recessing for weeks at a time in an effort to observe social distancing.
For Grassley, there’s just one problem: He had been hoping, before this outbreak, that his drug pricing bill could move alongside that package, perhaps attached to another bill that bans surprise out-of-network medical bills. And at least right now, the drug pricing bill's not in the draft. (As a reminder: Grassley's bill caps out-of-pocket drug expenses for Medicare beneficiaries and caps drug price increases at the rate of inflation.)
A spokesman told STAT that the drug pricing bill wasn’t currently included in the Senate legislation, despite Grassley’s advocacy.
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