A key Senate committee will consider a bill to that bans insurers from inserting “gag clauses” that forbid pharmacies from telling consumers of cheaper ways to buy pharmaceuticals.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on July 25 on a series of bills, among them the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act. The committee will decide whether to advance the bill to the full Senate.
The bill, introduced initially back in March, would ban “gag clauses” for pharmacies.
Sometimes, insurers or pharmacy benefit managers — a middlemen who oversee drug plans for employer or union health plans — insert such clauses into contracts with pharmacies, barring the pharmacist from telling a consumer that it is cheaper to buy a drug out of pocket than through their insurance.
“Gag clauses increase drug costs by thwarting market force, forcing patients to pay more,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., one of the bipartisan sponsors of the legislation, in a statement when the bill was introduced in March. “Eliminating gag clauses lets patients know the true cost of drugs and saves patients money.”
The Trump administration already banned such “gag clauses” for Medicare prescription drug plans. However, the practice is still in use by private insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.
[Also read: Novartis joins Pfizer in delaying drug price hikes]
