HR 4946 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act of 2019

Introduced Oct 31, 2019 Originated House Sponsor Peter Welch D-VT

Fact sheet

Latest action · Nov 1, 2019 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.

  1. IntroducedOct 31, 2019
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act of 2019

This bill establishes several requirements for prescription drug plans under the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Specifically, the bill requires prescription drug plans to allow any pharmacy located in a health professional shortage area, a medically underserved area, or a rural area to be included as an in-network pharmacy if the plan already has other in-network pharmacies in the same area.

The bill also establishes certain standards for prescription drug plans regarding pharmacy reimbursements and related disclosures. Among other things, the bill prohibits prescription drug plans from reimbursing a pharmacy in an amount that is less than the amount the pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) reimburses an affiliated pharmacy (i.e., a pharmacy that has a shared ownership interest with the PBM) for the same services.

Cosponsors 17

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Oct 31, 2019 to Oct 2, 2020, with 11 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-ARBruce WestermanOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-WACathy McMorris RodgersOriginalOct 31, 2019
D-MNCollin C. PetersonOriginalOct 31, 2019
D-IACynthia AxneOriginalOct 31, 2019
D-IADavid LoebsackOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-TNDavid P. RoeOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-GAEarl L. "Buddy" CarterOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-AREric A. "Rick" CrawfordOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-VAH. Morgan GriffithOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-GARick W. AllenOriginalOct 31, 2019
D-TXVicente GonzalezOriginalOct 31, 2019
R-TNCharles J. "Chuck" FleischmannNov 14, 2019
R-ALBradley ByrneNov 22, 2019
D-MDC. A. Dutch RuppersbergerNov 22, 2019
R-ARJ. French HillJan 16, 2020
Show all 17 cosponsors

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Nov 1, 2019Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
  2. Oct 31, 2019Introduced in House
  3. Oct 31, 2019Referred 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.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Oct 31, 2019Introduced in House

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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.