The House has passed two measures blocking insurers from enforcing " gag clauses" that forbid pharmacies from telling customers about how they can pay less for drugs.
The Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act and the Know the Lowest Price Act passed through voice vote Tuesday and are intended to help patients find out whether a prescription would cost less if they were to pay for it out of pocket rather than through their health plan.
The first bill applies to private health insurance while the other applies to patients who are covered by Medicare, the government program for 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.
Democrats warned on the House floor that the legislation shouldn't be the only effort by Congress to reduce drug prices. Lawmakers on the Left have been pushing for a system to allow Medicare to set drug prices.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called it a "minuscule step forward" that was the "most narrow" of the proposals that Congress had on the table.
"Approving this modest, narrow bill is not a substitute for tackling the pervasive problem of prescription price gauging," he said.
"That this bill is considered progress demonstrates how far we need to go," he continued.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who is chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said on the House floor that the legislation would provide a quick way to help consumers.
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who introduced the legislation and is the sole pharmacist in Congress, replied to Democratic critiques by saying that the legislation is "only the beginning of what we, and I, intend to do to lower prescription drugs in America."
The Trump administration has called for Congress to undo the gag clauses and pass other measures to help reduce what patients pay for drugs.
Americans deserve to know the lowest drug price at their pharmacy, but “gag clauses” prevent your pharmacist from telling you! I support legislation that will remove gag clauses and urge the Senate to act. #AmericanPatientsFirst
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2018
Both bills already have passed the Senate. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who authored and sponsored the legislation applying to private health insurance on the Senate side, called gag clauses an "egregious practice that causes people to pay more for their prescription drugs than they otherwise would."
"[The bill] is a step we can take to make sure that people know if it would be cheaper to buy a prescription drug by paying out of pocket using a debit card rather than an insurance card," she told reporters Tuesday ahead of the scheduled House vote.
Robert King contributed.
