The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would ban Medicare insurers from enforcing “gag clauses” that forbid pharmacies from telling customers about cheaper ways to buy drugs.
The Know the Lowest Price Act is intended to help patients covered under Medicare to find out if their prescription would cost less if they were to pay for it out of pocket rather than through their insurance plan.
“Passing this bill and eliminating gag clauses gives patients more power to lower their healthcare costs,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who helped introduce the plan, said in a statement. “It makes prices transparent so patients can save money with less expensive prescriptions.”
The new rules explicitly apply to Medicare Part D, which pays for prescription drugs, and to Medicare Advantage, a healthcare plan managed by private insurers. Medicare is the program covering adults 65 and older and people with disabilities.
In the complexity of the system that involves pharmaceutical companies, drug reimbursements, middlemen known as pharmacy benefits managers, and health insurance companies, patients can sometimes end up paying more while others in the chain pay less. Private health insurers and pharmacy benefits managers use “gag clauses” in their contracts to prohibit pharmacists from informing customers that they can save money if they don’t go through their health plans.
Another bill passed in committee, known as the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, would provide the same protections for people who have private health insurance coverage. The Trump administration has called for Congress to undo the gag clauses and pass other measures to help reduce what patients pay for drugs.
[Also read: Public not convinced Trump can lower drug prices: Poll]
