SENATE BEGINS MEDICARE NEGOTIATION DEBATE WITH HEARING
The Senate is taking its first steps toward considering new Medicare drug price negotiating authority for the federal government with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 11.
The Finance Committee hearing will bring witnesses from the Government Accountability Office, academic institutions and think tanks to discuss government negotiation of Medicare prices, including the economic impact. The Senate also introduced legislation Jan. 4 stating its interest in such a plan.
The Senate is following in the footsteps of House lawmakers, who introduced legislation earlier that day to give HHS authority to negotiate with drug companies for lower Medicare prices. But the House bill has been criticized as a mostly symbolic gesture.
The fact that the House bill, H.R.4, does not give HHS authority to set a formulary or exclude from Medicare companies that refuse to negotiate with the government means that the legislation "results in no real change," a financial analyst's note said.
The bill also does not mention anything about the government offering its own plan to seniors, the Jan. 5 Merrill Lynch report said. "As a result, compared with initial fears and Democratic rhetoric, within our universe of coverage, we would not expect the proposal to be an issue for [benefit managers or wholesalers] even if it ultimately became law."
The Senate hearing notice is available at finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing011107.htm (http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing011107.htm).
The draft House bill be can be seen at www.fdanews.com/images/dingel_0011.pdf (http://www.fdanews.com/images/dingel_0011.pdf).