Payment Commission Data Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1781) to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission with access to certain drug payment information, including certain rebate information, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1781

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 ``Payment Commission Data Act of 2019''. SEC. 2. PROVIDING THE MEDICARE PAYMENT ADVISORY COMMISSION AND MEDICAID AND CHIP PAYMENT AND ACCESS COMMISSION WITH ACCESS TO CERTAIN DRUG PAYMENT INFORMATION, INCLUDING CERTAIN REBATE INFORMATION.

(a) Access to Certain Part D Payment Data.--Section 1860D- 15(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-115(f)) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (2)--

(A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;

(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and

(C) by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph:

``(C) by the Executive Director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission for purposes of monitoring, making recommendations, and analysis of the program under this title and by the Executive Director of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission for purposes of monitoring, making recommendations, and analysis of the Medicaid program established under title XIX and the Children's Health Insurance Program under title XXI.''; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

``(3) Additional restrictions on disclosure of information.--The Executive Directors described in paragraph (2)(C) shall not disclose any of the following information disclosed to such Executive Directors or obtained by such Executive Directors pursuant to such paragraph, with respect to a prescription drug plan offered by a PDP sponsor or an MA-PD plan offered by an MA organization:

``(A) The specific amounts or the identity of the source of any rebates, discounts, price concessions, or other forms of direct or indirect remuneration under such prescription drug plan or such MA-PD plan.

``(B) Information submitted with the bid submitted under section 1860D-11(b) by such PDP sponsor or under section 1854(a) by such MA organization.

``(C) In the case of such information from prescription drug event records, in a form that would not be permitted under section 423.505(m) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, if made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.''.

(b) Access to Certain Rebate and Payment Data Under Medicare and Medicaid.--Section 1927(b)(3)(D) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396r-8(b)(3)(D)) is amended--

(1) in the matter before clause (i), by striking ``subsection (a)(6)(A)(ii)'' and inserting ``subsection (a)(6)(A)'';

(2) in clause (iv), by striking ``and'' at the end;

(3) in clause (v), by striking the period at the end and inserting ``, and'';

(4) by inserting after clause (v) the following new clause:

``(vi) to permit the Executive Director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Executive Director of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission to review the information provided.'';

(5) in the matter at the end, by striking ``1860D- 4(c)(2)(E)'' and inserting ``1860D-4(c)(2)(G)''; and

(6) by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``Any information disclosed to the Executive Director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission or the Executive Director of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission pursuant to this subparagraph shall not be disclosed by either such Executive Director in a form which discloses the identity of a specific manufacturer or wholesaler or prices charged for drugs by such manufacturer or wholesaler.''.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. 1781.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1781, the Payment Commission Data Act of 2019.

This bill will provide the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, otherwise known as MedPAC, and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, MACPAC, with access to drug pricing and rebate data under Medicare parts B and D, as well as under Medicaid.

MedPAC and MACPAC are independent, nonpartisan commissions that advise Congress on issues affecting the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Currently, MedPAC and MACPAC lack access to this drug pricing data and are limited in their ability to provide information to Congress on the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs.

H.R. 1781 is a simple but critical fix to ensure that the commissions have access to this data in order to analyze and report to Congress on these urgent issues.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that this evening, early evening and now, we have passed a total of five pieces of legislation, a couple of which were also out of the Ways and Means Committee. I think it is a tremendous success and a bipartisan success.

So I want to thank Chairman Frank Pallone and the chair of the Health Subcommittee, Anna Eshoo; Ranking Member Walden and ranking member of the Health Subcommittee, Mr. Burgess, for their hard work.

But I also do want to just take a moment to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle. On the Democratic staff we have: Stephen Holland, Jacquelyn Bolen, Kimberlee Trzeciak, Una Lee, Tiffany Guarascio, and Waverly Gordon.

These bills will strengthen our healthcare workforce and increase transparency in prescription drug prices. They are all critical. I am very proud that we were able to work in a bipartisan way to, hopefully, right now, have them pass.

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