A Senate committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would ban “gag clauses” that prevent pharmacists from telling a consumer it is cheaper to buy a drug out of pocket than through their insurance.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously advanced four healthcare bills, setting them up for a Senate floor vote. One of the bills is the Patient’s Right to Know Drug Prices Act, which targets a “gag clause” inserted by insurers and drug middlemen into contracts with pharmacies.
“These clauses have resulted in patients paying double, triple or even more for prescription drugs than they would have if they paid out of pocket,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the sponsors of the bill.
The legislation would prohibit the gag clauses in employer-sponsored plans and plans sold on the individual Obamacare market, which is used by people who don’t get insurance through a job or the government.
The bill likely has support from the White House, which has previously criticized gag clauses. The Trump administration this year prohibited the gag clauses to be inserted into Medicare prescription drug plans.
“We look forward to the full Senate swiftly passing this bill, and encourage the House of Representatives to take up this legislation when they return from recess,” a White House official said.
The three other bills passed by the committee would reauthorize a treatment and prevention program for sickle cell disease, create a grant program to states to improve dental health, and reauthorize the National Congenital Heart Disease Surveillance System, which examines and researches congenital heart disease.
