Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement Act
Latest action · Jun 18, 2004 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 3, 2004
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal provisions prohibiting the Secretary of Health and Human Services from interfering with the negotiations between drug manufacturers and pharmacies and prescription drug plan sponsors. Grants the Secretary authority similar to that of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Defense, and the heads of other Federal agencies and departments that purchase prescription drugs in bulk to negotiate contracts with manufacturers of covered Medicare part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) drugs.
Eliminates the initial coverage limit on the maximum costs that may be recognized for payment purposes (including the annual deductible) with respect to prescription drug benefits.
Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2004 - Amends the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to: (1) repeal certain sections of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 relating to importation of prescription drugs from Canada. and (2) restore previous law. Amends such restored law to direct the Secretary to promulgate regulations allowing qualifying individuals (in addition to pharmacists and wholesalers) to import covered products.
Repeals the mandate that the Secretary require that a foreign seller specify the original source of the product and the amount of each lot of the product originally received.
Amends provisions regarding the testing of imported covered products. Declares that specified tests shall not be required unless the importer is a wholesaler. Requires such tests to be conducted by the importer-wholesaler unless a product is a prescription drug subject to the provisions of this Act pertaining to counterfeit-resistant packaging.
Classifies prescription drugs as misbranded if they do not incorporate specified counterfeit-resistant technologies in packaging. Directs the Secretary to require that the packaging of any subject drug incorporate specified overt optically variable counterfeit-resistant technologies.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Energy and Commerce Committee | Referred Jun 3, 2004 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Jun 18, 2004 | |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Jun 3, 2004 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Jun 10, 2004 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 18, 2004Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Jun 10, 2004Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Jun 3, 2004Introduced in House
- Jun 3, 2004Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower prices for Medicare prescription drugs and to eliminate the gap in coverage of Medicare prescription drug benefits, to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations for the reimportation of prescription drugs, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement Act
- Short Titles as Introduced for portions of this bill
- Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2004
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Administrative procedure
- Business records
- Commerce
- Congress
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Consumer protection
- Cost control
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Data banks
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Drug industry
- Drugs
- Foreign Trade and International Finance
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Governmental investigations
- Health
- Health insurance
- Health maintenance organizations
- Identification devices
- Import restrictions
- Imports
- Intellectual property
- Labeling
- Law
- Medical economics
- Medicare
- Packaging
- Prescription pricing
- Product counterfeiting
- Product safety
- Quality of care
- Retiree health benefits
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Social Welfare
- Sunset legislation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 3, 2004Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.