COMPREHENSIVE DRUG BILL STALLS WHILE HOUSE PUSHES SMALLER MEASURES House Democrats are planning to take up more narrow bills addressing prescription drug costs while their broad legislation is delayed as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) works on estimating its budgetary impacts. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the Democrats’ bill now won’t receive a floor vote until December – with some House staff fretting the vote could slip to January as leaders wait for…

DEMOCRATS PRESS FOR PRE-THANKSGIVING VOTE ON DRUG PRICING BILL The House Ways and Means Committee last week approved an amended version of legislation that would overhaul how Medicare and private insurers reimburse for prescription drugs, setting up what Democrats hope will be a pre-Thanksgiving vote on the House floor. It was the third House committee to vote on the bill, which would direct the government to negotiate prices with manufacturers on several dozen high-cost drugs,…

PELOSI INTRODUCES DRUG PRICING BILL WHILE TRUMP PUSHES SENATE VERSION House Democrats introduced legislation last week to lower prescription drug prices – including allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with manufacturers – and set an aggressive timeline to approve the bill by Halloween. The legislation would allow the government to negotiate prices annually for at least 25 of the highest-cost brand-name drugs that lack generic or biosimilar competition in the Medicare Part D and Part B…

PELOSI DRUG PRICE PLAN EXPECTED THIS WEEK House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to release her long-awaited plan this week to address prescription drug costs, according to congressional staff. A draft summary of the proposal that circulated last week would allow the government to negotiate prices with manufacturers on 250 drugs and impose sweeping fines on companies that failed to participate. The negotiated price – which manufacturers say would be de facto price…

UPDATE ON DRUG PRICING LEGISLATION AS CONGRESS RECONVENES Congress reconvenes this week after a monthlong summer recess and begins what likely will be a final push toward overhauling prescription drug prices, but lack of consensus on the underlying policy and the intensifying 2020 presidential campaign will complicate efforts to advance a bill to President Donald Trump’s desk. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is finalizing long-awaited legislation centering on price negotiation for drugs that lack…

Below is this week’s “Capitol Hill Healthcare Update,” which is posted on Mondays when Congress is in session. MAJOR HEALTH POLICY UNLIKELY IN POTENTIAL DEBT-SPENDING DEAL As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Trump administration edge closer to a sweeping agreement to avoid a government shutdown and debt default, it’s increasingly unlikely major healthcare provisions will be included. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been working to permanently lift sequester-imposed…

Below is this week’s “Capitol Hill Healthcare Update,” which is posted on Mondays when Congress is in session. SENATORS RACE TO FINISH DRUG PRICING BILL AS TRUMP PLANS STALL With only 15 legislative days before a scheduled monthlong recess, Senate leaders are scrambling this week to seek consensus on ambitious legislation to lower prescription drug prices, particularly after major pharmaceutical industry initiatives by the Trump administration were derailed last week. Senate Finance Committee leaders Charles …