DHPA submitted a letter to the leadership of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee expressing concerns about Section 102 of the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) of 2019, which was recently marked up by the Committee.
Section 102 would include the value of coupons provided to commercially insured patients for the purpose of calculating Medicare’s average sales price (ASP) reimbursement formula. This proposed change in the ASP calculation could force drug companies to curtail or eliminate their patient assistance programs, which would have a devastating impact on patient access to critical medications.
In the letter, DHPA applauded the Committee’s leadership in working to lower drug prices, but expressed a concern that “this particular policy will have the opposite effect either by increasing commercially insured patients’ out-of-pocket costs or driving Medicare beneficiaries to the higher cost care setting, which will raise Medicare costs and related patient coinsurance obligations.”
Click here to read the full letter.