Legislative Spotlight

Welcome to our new Legislative Spotlight feature! Here, we will highlight a healthcare bill that needs our help to either pass or to be defeated. The featured bills will mainly come to us from the state legislatures, but sometimes we will include a federal bill. All of these bills will be of high impact to the chronic and autoimmune communities, and we will be asking you to take action with us in opposition or support.

Bill of the month: Lower health care costs act (federal sB 1895)

This month we are looking at a Federal bill, since many state legislatures are adjourned until next year.

Senate Bill 1895, the Lower Health Care Costs Act, outlines several ways to reduce healthcare costs across a broad spectrum of issues, including:

• Transparency (patents, pricing)

• Lower drug prices -FAIR Drug Pricing Act

  • Transparency in prices

  • Access to generics

  • Patent exclusivity

• Surprise medical bills

• More oversight of PBMs

This bill has already made it through the Senate HELP Committee, and now sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee*. It is unlikely that the final language of the bill will look like it does now – it still has to get through the House and Conference Committee (where the House and Senate negotiate the final bill).

It is still very early in the process, but this bill bears watching.

*It is important that the bill started in the Senate. Right now, it is the harder side to get favorable healthcare legislation through.

In the News:

• Stay tuned

In partnership with the Chronic Disease Coalition (CDC)