WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the only congressional member from Southern California on the House Committee on Ways and Means, today introduced the Medicare Drug Formulary Protection Act, sensible legislation that would create parity between Medicare beneficiaries and Medicare prescription drug plans.
“This is a bill that does right by Medicare’s beneficiaries who deserve to receive the drugs for which they signed up,” Rep. Becerra said.
Under current law, prescription drug plans can change their drug formulary (the list of drugs that an individual plan offers) as many times as they want. The formulary is the critical reason, coupled with cost, why seniors choose a particular plan. Seniors, however, are prohibited from changing drug plans except during the annual open enrollment period. This leaves no guarantee that the drug they need will be covered all year.
“This is certainly an inequity that can and should be easily fixed,” Rep. Becerra said.
Under the Medicare Drug Formulary Protection Act, Medicare prescription drug plans would be prohibited from removing a drug from their formulary until the beginning of each calendar year. If a prescription drug plan wishes to change its formulary, it can do so at the end of the year during the open enrollment period. The plan must notify its enrollees of the formulary changes so seniors can then decide whether to stick with that plan or switch to a different one. The bill also ensures that a drug like Vioxx can be removed expeditiously if it is shown to be harmful.
Rep. Becerra’s legislation is the House companion to S.2255, a bipartisan bill written and introduced in February by Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA).
“I applaud and thank Senator Feinstein for recognizing this glaring inequity in the Medicare prescription drug program and then having the wherewithal to write legislation to fix it,” Rep. Becerra said. “I look forward to working with her to see that this simple, straightforward fix becomes reality.”
Fifty-one of Rep. Becerra’s colleagues in the House of Representatives joined him as original co-sponsors to his bill. Those members include:
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Peter DeFazio |
Maurice Hinchey |
Jan Schakowsky |
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John Salazar |
Sherrod Brown |
Grace Napolitano |
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Mike Honda |
Silvestre Reyes |
Tim Ryan |
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William Jefferson |
C.A. "Dutch"Ruppersberger |
Mike Doyle |
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Patrick Kennedy |
John Larson |
Earl Pomeroy |
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Rick Boucher |
Michael McNulty |
Bobby Scott |
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Robert Wexler |
Doris Matsui |
Joe Baca |
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Dennis Cardoza |
Jerry Costello |
Bernie Sanders |
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James P. McGovern |
Carolyn Maloney |
Elijah Cummings |
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Alan B. Mollohan |
Jim Marshall |
James Oberstar |
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Gene Green |
Sander Levin |
Donald Payne |
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Raul Grijalva |
Eleanor Holmes Norton |
Charlie Gonzalez |
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Charlie Rangel |
Jay Inslee |
Rahm Emanuel |
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Pete Stark |
Stephen Lynch |
Tom Lantos |
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John Conyers |
William Delahunt |
Lloyd Doggett |
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Jim McDermott |
Major Owens |
Debbie Wasserman Schultz |
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Stephanie Herseth |
Solomon Ortiz |
Robert Brady |