Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009

Summary

Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to prescription drug plans, to limit the required co-payment or coinsurance for any one prescription to $200, and for all prescriptions in any month to $500. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, to expand the formulary tier exception request process to allow Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a prescription drug plan to request an exception for a specialty prescription drug as a non-preferred prescription drug. Requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to study and report to Congress on: (1) the prescription drug program under Medicare part D and the interaction of such program with Medicare beneficiary access to covered drugs under part B; and (2) cost-sharing for prescription drugs under Medicare parts B and D, including an analysis of the impact of eliminating cost-sharing for covered part D drugs for Medicare beneficiaries who incur annual out-of-pocket cost-sharing, after the initial coverage limit, that exceeds 5% of their income and who do not otherwise qualify for an income-related subsidy or other extra help or cost-sharing relief.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 6 August 2009

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9027-9029)

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 6 August 2009

   Introduced

   Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9027)

   Source: IntroReferral

3. 6 August 2009

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Introduced in Senate · 6 August 2009 · Official file

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 August 2009

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 August 2009

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 6 August 2009

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Begich, Mark [D-AK] · D · Cosponsor
• · ssfi00 · Standing

Related records

• related to → Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009