Senate bill fails to make it to the floor
June 16, 2008
On a 54-39 roll call, a majority of the Senate voted June 12 in favor of continuing debate on health care legislation (S.3101) sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that includes provisions requiring prompt payment to pharmacies in Medicare Part D and a delay in the implementation of the disastrous AMP reimbursement cuts in Medicaid. It also includes a delay in implementing the Medicare DME competitive bidding program.
However, 60 votes are needed to allow the debate to proceed (the vote was on a parliamentary maneuver known as “invoking cloture”). This does not mean the bill is dead, and the vote represents significant progress. Seven senators were absent, and six of their votes in our favor would move the debate ahead.
Bruce Roberts, R.Ph., executive VP and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association, issued a statement which said, “While S. 3101, the health care bill championed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and a majority of the U.S. Senate, did not achieve cloture, today, America’s 23,000 community pharmacies remain committed to ensuring patients have access to prescription drug services. That outcome can only be achieved by including provisions to speed up the painfully slow payment of Medicare Part D claims and delay utilizing a formula designed to drastically cut reimbursements for Medicaid generic prescription drugs.”
Via NCPA and DrugTopics
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