Federal Initiatives
The bills below are currently in-progress in the United States Congress
and need your US Senators’ (2) and US Representative’s (1) support!
Each bill’s section includes a brief description of Why it’s important, the bill’s Status, and What you can do to help get that bill passed. Next to the title of each piece of legislation you’ll find links to its status page (one for the House of Representatives’ version and one for the Senate’s version, if both exist) on the US Congress’ website so that you can read up on where that bill is at in the policy-making process.
Bills in the US House of Representatives and US Senate can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so we recommend that you prioritize reaching out to your legislators about bills they have yet to co-sponsor.
To find out who represents you in the US Congress, visit CommonCause.org and enter the address where you’re registered to vote.
Do you live & vote in Minnesota?
At this time, please prioritize reaching out to your MN State Representative and Senator about the bills listed on this page.
If you’d like to stay up to date on the trajectory of these and other bills being debated in the US Congress, click here to set up a free Congress.gov account.
Congress.gov allows you to track House and Senate bills by bill number and topic. When you log in, you’ll be able to set emailed “alerts” for bills of interest to you and view your saved searches.
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Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act of 2024 | S.3686 | New!
Why it’s important
Price fixing and other forms of collusion are illegal under US law, but current legislation preventing this abusive behavior may be insufficient when competing companies delegate pricing decisions to a computer algorithm. There is mounting evidence that PBMs are utilizing this approach to increase their profits and control of our healthcare system, making this proposed legislation an important part of addressing the larger issue of PBM abuse as a whole. Click here to read an article from the website of Amy Klobuchar (D—MN), one of our state’s US Senators and the primary author of this bill.
If passed, this legislation would:
• Close a loophole in current law by presuming a price-fixing “agreement,” when direct competitors share competitively sensitive information through a pricing algorithm to raise prices;
• Increase transparency by requiring companies that use algorithms to set prices to disclose that fact and give antitrust enforcers the ability to audit the pricing algorithm when there are concerns it may be harming consumers;
• Ban companies from using competitively sensitive information from their direct competitors to inform or train a pricing algorithm;
• And direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to study pricing algorithms’ impact on competition.
Status as of April 10th, 2024
The Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act of 2024 was introduced on 1/30/24 by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D—MN) alongside Sens. Wyden (D—OR), Durbin (D—IL), Blumenthal (D—CT), Hirono (D—HI), and Welch (D—VT), and was immediately referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
It has since added no additional co-sponsors and remains a Democratic bill. Bills in the US Senate can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Senators to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Senators! In Minnesota, this would be Senator Tina Smith (D—MN), who has yet to co-sponsor this bill (Senator Amy Klobuchar (D—MN) is already the primary author).
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
Lower Costs, More Transparency Act | H.R.5378
Why it’s important
As stated by the NACP (National Association of Community Pharmacists), “H.R. 5378 is NCPA-priority legislation that follows a months-long process to combine efforts of the House Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and the Workforce Committees into a single legislative package.
It includes the Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act (previously H.R. 1613), which would bring greater transparency to the Medicaid program, save taxpayers more than $1 billion over 10 years, and provide fair and transparent reimbursements to pharmacies. It also prohibits spread pricing/requires a full pass-through in all Medicaid managed care programs; requires pharmacy reimbursements in all state Medicaid managed care programs be at a rate of pharmacy’s average acquisition costs and the state’s Medicaid fee-for-service dispensing fee; limits payments to pharmacy benefit managers to solely administrative fees; and creates savings for taxpayers.”
Status as of April 10th, 2024
The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act was introduced on 9/8/23 by Representative McMorris Rodgers (R—WA—5) alongside Reps. Pallone (D—NJ—6), Smith (R—MO—8), and Foxx (R—NC—5) and was immediately referred to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and the Workforce. It passed the House on 12/11/23 with 320 Yeas and 72 Nays, but has not progressed since and still awaits a Senate bill number. A breakdown of the contribution by Representatives from our state is below:
YEAS
Angie Craig
Betty McCollum
Ilhan Omar
NAYS
Brad Finstad
Michelle Fischbach
Pete Stauber
DID NOT VOTE
Tom Emmer
Dean Phillips
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact our current US Senators representing Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and tell them that we NEED them to help pass this bill in the US Senate. Remember that you can contact them in multiple ways (via call, email/contact form, or sending a letter) and that doing so in more than one way is helpful for communicating the importance of this issue to their constituents. However, it’s best to only mention one bill per communication.
Contact your Minnesota Representative (in our neighborhood, that’s Betty McCollum). If they voted “yea,” tell them thank you for supporting legislative reform on this issue! If they voted “nay” or didn’t vote, ask them why. This bill included a number of other provisions (including things that hospitals don’t like), so if your Representative voted against this bill, there’s a high likelihood it was due to hospital lobbying. If that’s the case, remind them that we can’t have a well-functioning healthcare system if it pins certain providers against others—both hospitals AND pharmacies provide essential health services, and leaving patients without access to community-based pharmacies is dangerous in its own way.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
Patients Before Middlemen (PBM) Act | S.1967
Why it’s important
The Patients Before Middlemen (PBM) Act would delink the compensation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from drug price and utilization in order to better align incentives that would help lower prescription drugs costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries.
More specifically, this bill would (1) prohibit PBM compensation based on the price of a drug as a condition of entering into a contract with a Medicare Part D plan (i.e., service fees will not be connected to the price of a drug, discounts, rebates, or other fees) and (2) create an enforcement mechanism requiring PBMs to pay to the Secretary any amount in excess of the designated service fees.
As stated by Chairman Wyman, "This legislation will put a stop to one of the most egregious practices driving up the price of prescription drugs in Medicare: pharmacy benefit managers getting paid based on the price of a drug," said Chairman Wyden. "Instead of fighting for lower prices, this practice has encouraged drug middlemen to favor higher-priced drugs in their negotiations, which means seniors are forced to pay more for their prescriptions. I'm pleased to introduce this bill on a bipartisan basis, and I look forward to working with Ranking Member Crapo and other members of the Finance Committee to include this policy in the committee's forthcoming effort to address pharmacy benefit manager practices that are driving up prices for seniors and taxpayers."
Status as of April 10th, 2024
The Patients Before Middlemen (PBM) Act was introduced on 6/14/23 by Senator Menendez (D—NJ) alongside Sens. Blackburn (R—TN), Tester (D—MT), Marshall (R—KS), Wyden (D—OR), and Crapo (R—ID), and was immediately referred to the Committee on Finance.
It has since added the following co-sponsors and is officially bi-partisan: Sens. Booker (D—NJ) and Lankford (R—OK). Bills in the US Senate can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Senators to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Senators! In Minnesota, this would be Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, neither of whom have yet to co-sponsor this bill.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
PATIENT Act of 2023 | H.R.3561
Why it’s important
The Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasingly Necessary Transparency (PATIENT) Act is a repackaging of several healthcare bills, some PBM-related (including Representative Earl “Buddy” Carter’s original Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act of 2023), generally with the goal of reducing healthcare costs.
Status as of April 10th, 2024
H.R.3561 was introduced on 5/22/23 by Representative McMorris Rodgers (R—WA—5) alongside Rep. Pallone (D—NJ—6). It was passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee on 5/24/23 with a vote of 49 yeas and 0 nays, but has not progressed since.
It has since added the following co-sponsors and is officially bi-partisan: Reps. Carter (R—GA—1), Bilirakis (R—FL-12), Bucshon (R—IN—8), Guthrie (R—KY—2), Buchanan (R—FL—16), Balderson (R—OH—12), Joyce (R—PA—13), Allen (R—GA—12), Johnson (R—OH—6), Dunn (R—FL—2), Hudson (R—NC—9), Cammack (R—FL—3), Bice (R—OK—5), Barragan (D—CA—44), Kuster (D—NH—2), Sarbanes (D—MD—3), Craig (D—MN—2), Harshbarger (R—TN—1), Latta (R—OH—5), Obernolte (R—CA—23), Higgins (R—LA—3), Duncan (R—SC—3), LaTurner (R—KS—2), Peters (D—CA—50), Schakowsky (D—IL—9), Miller-Meeks (R—IA—1), Lesko (R—AZ—8), Crenshaw (R—TX—2), Curtis (R—UT—3), Smith (R—NJ—4), James (R—MI—10), Moore (R—AL—2), Stefanik (R—NY—21), Cherfilus-McCormick (D—FL—20), Moolenaar (R—MI—2), De La Cruz (R—TX—15), Matsui (D—CA—7), Van Duyne (R—TX—24), Fallon (R—TX—4), Babin (R—TX—36), Bergman (R—MI—1), Caraveo (D—CO—8), Mills (R—FL—7), Lee (D—NV—3), Westerman (R—AR—4), Schiff (D—CA—30), Spartz (R—IN—5), Baird (R—IN—4), Clarke (D—NY—9), Davis (D—NC—1), Armstrong (R—ND—At Large), Vasquez (D—NM—2), Gimenez (R—FL—28), Jackson (R—TX—13), Ciscomani (R—AZ—6), Blunt Rochester (D—DE—At Large), Soto (D—FL—9), Kelly (D—Il—2), Trahan (D—MA—3), Dingell (D—MI—6), Wild (D—PA—7), Thanedar (D—MI—13), Gallego (D—AZ—3), Lieu (D—CA—36), Veasey (D—TX—33), Ruiz (D—CA—25), Pettersen (D—CO—7), Cardenas (D—CA—29), Jackson Lee (D—TX—18), Fletcher (D—TX—7), Deluzio (D—PA—17), Van Drew (R—NJ—2), Santos (R—NY—3), Salinas (D—OR—6), Harder (D—CA—9), DeGette (D—CO—1), Schrier (D—WA—8), Takano (D—CA—39), Kim (D—NJ—3), Posey (R—FL—8), Stanton (D—AZ—4), Tlaib (D—MI—12), Manning (D—NC—6), Rogers (R—KY—5), McCollum (D—MN—4), Nickel (D—NC—13), and McCormick (R—GA—6). Bills in the US House of Representatives can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Representative to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Representative! In our neighborhood, this would be Representative Betty McCollum (D—MN—4),who became a co-sponsor of this bill on 9/26/23, but may differ if you reside in a different zip code.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act | S.127
Why it’s important
PBMs are third-party administrators of prescription drug programs for health plans. Hired by payers (corporate employers, government organizations, health plans, etc.) to interface with drug manufacturers and process prescription-related insurance claims, they are the “middleman” between dispensing pharmacies like us and the entities that help cover the cost of patients’ prescriptions. Through a number of ethically questionable and mysterious practices, they currently siphon magnificent amounts of money from both sides of this equation, and have left the network of independent pharmacies in our nation crumbling, as well as contributed to the rising costs of prescription drugs and difficulty patients have getting the medications they’re prescribed covered by insurance.
This bill would require PBMs to report the amount of money they obtain from “spread pricing” (when a PBM reimburses pharmacies and health plans differently for a drug) and ban this practice. It would also grant the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enhanced powers to enforce this legislation.
Status as of April 10th, 2024
S.127 was reintroduced (it was passed over in the prior year’s Congress) on 1/26/23 by Senator Cantwell (D—WA) alongside Sens. Grassley (R—IA), Hyde-Smith (R—MS), Braun (R—IN), Moran (R—KS), Tillis (R—NC), Tester (D—MT), and Capito (R—WV), and immediately referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. On 12/13/23, it was reported by Senator Cantwell with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar, but hasn’t progressed since.
It has since added the following co-sponsors and is officially bi-partisan: Sens. Boozman (R—AR), Welch (D—VT), Marshall (R—KS), Heinrich (D—NM), Ernst (R—IA), Rounds (R—SD), and Shaheen (D—NH). Bills in the US Senate can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Senators to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Senators! In Minnesota, this would be Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, neither of whom have yet to co-sponsor this bill.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023 | S.113
Why it’s important
PBMs operate with little to no transparency, making it very difficult (if not impossible) to understand the flow of money in the prescription drug marketplace and how PBMs determine the prices for prescription drugs. This bill would help to provide better transparency of the PBM industry by examining the effects of consolidation on pricing and other potentially abusive behavior.
Specifically, this legislation directs the FTC to issue a report within one year addressing specific concerns, which would also include policy recommendations to Congress on improving transparency, preventing anticompetitive behavior, and ensuring that consumers actually benefit from cost savings.
Status as of April 10th, 2024
S.113 was reintroduced (it was passed over in the prior year’s Congress) on 1/26/23 by Senator Grassley (R—IA) alongside Sens. Cantwell (D—WA), Blumenthal (D—CT), Lankford (R—OK), Blackburn (R—TN), Tuberville (R—AL), Tillis (R—NC), Capito (R—WV), and Braun (R—IN). It was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar on 3/1/23, but has not progressed since.
It has since added the following co-sponsors and is officially bi-partisan: Boozman (R—AR), Welch (D—VT), Coons (D—DE), Hirono (D—HI), Feinstein (D—CA), Casey (D—PA), Sinema (I—AZ), Marshall (R—KS), Budd (R—NC), Rosen (D—NV), Shaheen (D—NH), and Collins (R—ME). Bills in the US Senate can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Senators to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Senators! In Minnesota, this would be Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, neither of whom have yet to co-sponsor this bill.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.
Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act | H.R.2880
Why it’s important
Introduced on 4/26/23 by a group of bi-partisan Representatives, this bill would address issues of PBM abuse that make high-quality healthcare inaccessible and unaffordable for patients. If passed, it would unlink PBM compensation from the cost of prescription medications, ban patient steering and spread pricing, increase transparency, and address conflicts of interest.
Status as of May 10th, 2024
H.R.2880 was introduced on 4/26/23 by Representative Carter (R—GA—1) alongside Reps. Blunt Rochester (D—DE—At Large), Malliotakis (R—NY—11), and Auchincloss (D—MA—4), and was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce (Subcommittee on Health) on 4/28/23. It was last amended by the full Committee on Energy and Commerce on 12/6/23 with a vote of 46 yeas to 0 nays, but hasn’t progressed yet.
It has since added the following co-sponsors and is officially bi-partisan: Reps. Van Drew (R—NJ—2), Miller-Meeks (R—IA—1), Ross (D—NC—2), Dunn (R—FL—2), Carl (R—AL—1), Mann (R—KS—1), Ferguson (R—GA—3), Harshbarger (R—TN—1), Allen (R—GA—12), Miller (R—WV—1), Valadao (R—CA—22), Cleaver (D—MO—5), Sherrill (D—NJ—11), Barragán (D—CA—44), Scott (R—GA—8), and Cherfilus-McCormick (D—FL—20). Bills in the US House of Representatives can have an unlimited number of co-sponsors, so encourage your US Representative to sign on as one!
Click here to view the status of this bill on the US Congress’s official website.
What you can do
Contact your US Representative! In our neighborhood, this would be Representative Betty McCollum (who has yet to co-sponsor this bill), but may differ if you reside in a different zip code.
For detailed instructions on how to contact your legislators and helpful tips and tricks, check out our How to Advocate page.