[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1994 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1994
To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strike the
language that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from
negotiating prices for prescription drugs furnished under the Medicare
program.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 9, 2003
Mr. Daschle (for Mr. Feingold) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strike the
language that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from
negotiating prices for prescription drugs furnished under the Medicare
program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Efficiency in Government Health Care
Spending Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Prohibiting the Federal Government from negotiating
prescription drug prices with manufacturers fails to take
advantage of the purchasing power of the Medicare program.
(2) Negotiating prescription drug prices can reduce the
costs of prescription drugs for both the Medicare program and
taxpayers.
(3) A 2002 study by the inspector general of the Department
of Health and Human Services found that--
(A) both the Medicare program and the beneficiaries
of the Medicare program continually pay too much for
medical equipment and medical supplies; and
(B) if the Medicare program paid the same prices
for 16 health care supplies as the Department of
Veterans Affairs, which directly negotiates prices with
manufacturers, pays for those supplies, the Federal
Government could save $958,000,000 each year.
SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF PROHIBITION OF NEGOTIATION OF PRICES.
(a) Repeal of Noninterference Provision.--
(1) In general.--Subsection (i) of section 1860D-11 of the
Social Security Act, as added by section 101 of the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003,
is repealed.
(2) Conforming amendment.--Subsection (j) of section 1860D-
11 of the Social Security Act, as added by section 101 of the
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act
of 2003, is redesignated as subsection (i).
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take
effect as if included in the enactment of section 101 of the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.
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