U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Sept. 13 urged consideration of her bipartisan bill to make information more readily available on the price of prescription drugs.
“Our bipartisan legislation would help reduce the cost of medications by shedding light on the opaque pricing information on prescription drugs offered under Medicare and Medicaid,” said Sen. Collins, the original cosponsor of the Prescription Drug Pricing Dashboard Act, S. 1773, which she and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced on May 20.
If enacted, S. 1773 would establish website-based dashboards to allow the public to review information on spending for, and utilization of, prescription drugs and biologicals covered under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to the text of the bill.
“Millions of Americans are struggling with the high cost of prescription drugs, making it more and more difficult for them to access the treatments they require,” said Sen. Collins on Monday. “This problem particularly affects our seniors, 90 percent of whom take at least one prescription drug.”
The drug spending dashboards would be interactive, web-based tools that provide cost and spending information for drugs in the Medicare Part B and D programs, as well as Medicaid, according to a bill summary provided by the senator’s office.
The legislation would ensure that information about drug costs are posted annually, thereby making it easier to spot trends, identify problems and find solutions, the summary says.
Upon introduction in May, the measure was read twice and referred for consideration to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.