A bill designed to help seniors afford medication was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
In the Senate, Aging Committee Chair Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) are spearheading the legislation, which was filed to combat the growing tiered prescription benefit plans that move expensive medications to a specialty category. The specialty category requires those who receive Medicare Part D to pay a greater share of a prescription’s cost.
Medicare Part D recipients are currently unable to receive exemptions from their plans that could reduce their cost-share for specialty drugs. Recipients through other parts of Medicare are able to request exemptions.
“The bipartisan Part D Beneficiary Appeals Fairness Act represents a commonsense approach to ensuring that seniors have better access to life-saving specialty medications needed to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other serious conditions,” Collins said. “Seniors with chronic illnesses should be concerned with what drugs provide the best treatment for their conditions, not with how those drugs are classified under Medicare Part D.”
The bill is called the Part D Beneficiary Appeals Fairness Act and has been introduced in the House as well. Reps. Hand Johnson (D-Ga.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Bruce Braley (D-Iowa.) are sponsors on the House side. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Finance in the Senate and the committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means in the House.