Affordable Medications Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Affordable Medications Act
This bill revises and expands various requirements relating to prescription drug pricing and affordability.
Specifically, the bill expands financial reporting requirements for drug manufacturers and establishes corresponding civil penalties for noncompliance; it also adds reporting requirements for certain nonprofit patient-assistance programs.
Further, the bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate prices for certain prescription drugs under Medicare and requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within the CMS to test specified models for negotiating drug prices. It also establishes reporting requirements, and corresponding civil penalties for noncompliance, for pharmaceutical companies with respect to spikes in prescription drug prices.
The bill establishes an excise tax on prescription drugs subject to price spikes, lessens prescription drug cost-sharing requirements under qualified health plans and group health plans, and modifies requirements for the importation of prescription drugs.
It also requires drug manufacturers to provide rebates for drugs dispensed to certain low-income individuals under the Medicare program and limits the time frame that trade agreements are required to provide market exclusivity for biological products.
Additionally, the bill (1) requires the Food and Drug Administration to establish a database of generic drugs; (2) modifies other provisions related to generic drugs, prescription drug advertising, disclosure of wholesale acquisition prices, and patent-infringement proceedings; and (3) revises certain time frames and conditions related to drug exclusivity.
Finally, it establishes an innovation incentive fund for new or more effective treatments of bacterial infections and establishes the Center for Clinical Research within the National Institutes of Health.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 27, 2021. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 27, 2021: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced it on May 27, 2021, and 13 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 12 Democrats, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 27, 2021, 1932 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1932 days ago, on May 27, 2021.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers