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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1994 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1994

To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strike the 
language that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 
negotiating prices for prescription drugs furnished under the Medicare 
                                program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 9, 2003

Mr. Daschle (for Mr. Feingold) introduced the following bill; which was 
          read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strike the 
language that prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 
negotiating prices for prescription drugs furnished under the Medicare 
                                program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Efficiency in Government Health Care 
Spending Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Prohibiting the Federal Government from negotiating 
        prescription drug prices with manufacturers fails to take 
        advantage of the purchasing power of the Medicare program.
            (2) Negotiating prescription drug prices can reduce the 
        costs of prescription drugs for both the Medicare program and 
        taxpayers.
            (3) A 2002 study by the inspector general of the Department 
        of Health and Human Services found that--
                    (A) both the Medicare program and the beneficiaries 
                of the Medicare program continually pay too much for 
                medical equipment and medical supplies; and
                    (B) if the Medicare program paid the same prices 
                for 16 health care supplies as the Department of 
                Veterans Affairs, which directly negotiates prices with 
                manufacturers, pays for those supplies, the Federal 
                Government could save $958,000,000 each year.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF PROHIBITION OF NEGOTIATION OF PRICES.

    (a) Repeal of Noninterference Provision.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (i) of section 1860D-11 of the 
        Social Security Act, as added by section 101 of the Medicare 
        Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, 
        is repealed.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Subsection (j) of section 1860D-
        11 of the Social Security Act, as added by section 101 of the 
        Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act 
        of 2003, is redesignated as subsection (i).
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the enactment of section 101 of the Medicare 
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.
                                 <all>
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