Medicare beneficiaries would be guaranteed coverage for potentially life-saving drugs and new treatments under a bipartisan bill introduced on Oct. 4 by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL).
“The federal government should make it easier for seniors to access breakthrough treatments, not unreasonably restrict potentially life-changing drugs for our nation’s most vulnerable patients,” Rep. Buchanan said on Wednesday.
The congressman sponsored the Mandating Exclusive Review of Individual Treatments (MERIT) Act, H.R. 9127, with original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-CA) to amend the Social Security Act to clarify the use of the national coverage determination process under the Medicare program, according to the congressional record bill summary.
The introduction of H.R. 9127 follows a move earlier this year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that restricted coverage for the first new treatment (Aduhelm) in twenty years for Alzheimer’s disease despite prior approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In doing so, according to Rep. Buchanan, CMS cast a wide net that could restrict coverage of any similar drugs in its class.
“Unfortunately, the Biden administration and Democrats in Washington have continuously pursued policies that will stifle innovation, halt progress toward revolutionary cures and move manufacturing overseas, particularly to China,” said Rep. Buchanan.
If enacted, H.R. 9127 would protect similar drugs from future bureaucratic overreach, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Buchanan’s office, and would require CMS to evaluate treatments and cures individually and based on their own merits, rather than as a broad class of drugs.
The bill is supported by the Alzheimer’s Association, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, and the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation.