On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up several bills dealing with health care. The most prominent was H.R. 7623, the Telehealth Modernization Act, sponsored by Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), which would make permanent COVID-era telehealth flexibility under Medicare which is currently set to expire at the end of this year.
The committee also approved H.R. 8107, the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Buy-in Programs Act, sponsored by Reps. Juan Ciscomani (D-Ariz.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.). That bill includes provisions of H.R. 1613, the Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act, specifically those on NADAC reporting and PBM reform.
Separately, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing focused on provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act to negotiate prescription drug prices in Medicare, restructure the Medicare Part D benefit, and establish inflation rebates for Medicare Parts B and D covered drugs.
The committee heard testimony from expert witnesses and stakeholders including a retired registered nurse, think tank experts on health care, and a professor of public policy at Boston University. Chairman Ron Wyden (R-Ore.), Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) all called out the need for PBM reform.
