Claim: Massachusetts Senate to debate prescription drug price bill.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Diana DiZoglio
text: legislation aimed at curbing opioid prescriptions and attempted to establish a task force in Massachusetts on protecting elderly and elderly persons residing in public housing. DiZoglio worked with the Lawrence legislative delegation to secure $145,000 for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning at Greater Lawrence Technical School. In March 2018 DiZoglio announced her candidacy for the 1st Essex District State Senate after incumbent State Senator Kathleen O'Connor-Ives announced her decision to not seek reelection. Diana DiZoglio Diana DiZoglio is an American state legislator serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She is a Methuen resident and a member of

title: Presidency of Barack Obama
text: a ban on denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. However, the House bill included a tax increase on families making more than $1 million per year and a public health insurance option, while the Senate plan included an excise tax on high-cost health plans. The 2010 Massachusetts Senate special election victory of Scott Brown seriously imperiled the prospects of a health care reform bill, as Democrats lost their 60-seat Senate super-majority. The White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi engaged in an extensive campaign to convince both centrists and liberals in the House to pass the Senate's health care bill, the

title: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
text: debate on the bill: a cloture vote to end the filibuster. The bill then passed, also 60–39, on December 24, 2009, with all Democrats and two independents voting for it, and all Republicans against (except Jim Bunning, who did not vote). The bill was endorsed by the AMA and AARP. On January 19, 2010, Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown was elected to the Senate in a special election to replace Kennedy, having campaigned on giving the Republican minority the 41st vote needed to sustain Republican filibusters. His victory had become significant because of its effects on the legislative process. The first

title: New England Council
text: US senators as well as the governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In June 2016, Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker indicated at a New England Council breakfast that the New England states would begin sharing information about prescription drug usage and monitoring. New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen addressed the New England Council in Bedford, New Hampshire in July 2016, arguing against isolationism in US politics and emphasizing the need to address the heroin and opioid epidemic facing the country, with New England in particular. The NEC claims that its mission is "to identify and support federal public policies and articulate the

title: Massachusetts General Court
text: the bill, when making their report. If the estimated cost is less than $100,000, the bill bypasses having to be referred to Ways and Means. If a bill is not related to health care, but affects the finances of the Commonwealth, or, if it is reported by the Health Care Financing Committee with an estimated cost greater than $100,000, it is referred to the Senate or House Committee on Ways and Means after the first reading. Adverse reports ("ought not to pass") are also referred to the Committee on Steering and Policy in the Senate or placed without debate in

title: Gene Lindsey
text: Massachusetts and solicit input from interested stakeholders and experts. The goal of the committee will be to make recommendations about key decision points to the full Council to inform comprehensive payment reform legislation. [link to mass.gov] On January 19, 2011, Dr. Lindsey was appointed by Governor Patrick to the Massachusetts Special Commission on Provider Price Reform established under Section 67 of Chapter 288 of the Acts of 2010. The Special Commission is charged to investigate the rising cost of health care insurance and the impact of reimbursement rates paid by health insurers to providers, and to examine policies aimed at

title: Political positions of Mitt Romney
text: for the governorship of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney argued that the federal government should pay for medicines for seniors: "It is outrageous that some senior citizens are forced to choose between paying for their prescription drugs and their groceries. The federal government needs to step in with a plan for our senior citizens, and I will lobby officials on the federal level to provide a Medicare drug benefit." (The U.S. Congress would pass legislation providing for Medicare prescription drug coverage - Medicare Part D - the following year.) In February 2012, in an address to the Detroit Economic Club during

title: Prizes as an alternative to patents
text: been a longtime proponent of Stiglitz’ ideas, and favors a system of incentives for innovation in medicine and pharmaceuticals over a system of patents, which he asserts grant company monopolies on drugs and drive up pharmaceutical prices. The two bills proposed on May 26, 2011 by Senator Bernie Sanders would completely remove legal barriers to the manufacture and sale of generic drugs. The bills will give the government the right to set specific goals and direct research to certain areas of medicine. S1137 would apply to all prescription drugs, and S1138 is focused on HIV/AIDS medications. The bills call for

title: Charlie Baker
text: core competencies program on prescription drug misuse at the state's dental schools, and spoke in support of the Obama Administration's $1.1 billion proposal to expand access to treatment for drug addicts. In March 2016, Baker spoke in support of new Centers for Disease Control opioid prescription guidelines, signed into law a bill repealing automatic driver's license suspensions for people convicted of drug crimes, and Baker signed into law a compromise version of the comprehensive opioid legislation he proposed the previous October. In May 2016, Baker and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey launched a statewide campaign to promote awareness of protection

title: John F. Keenan (state senator)
text: 3, and since its passage has said the law is subject to exploitation, and should be changed to include guards against non-medical use. He also supports "taking a look" at gun laws, and possibly proposing new gun control legislation, in wake of the Newtown School shooting, in nearby Connecticut, and other mass shootings. As of December 2013, he held office hours on Fridays to meet with constituents. He has been involved in efforts to stop the FDA from approving new non-tamper-resistant opioids. In 2016, Keenan introduced Massachusetts state legislature Bill H.4569 on behalf of resident Tom Emswiler, which created a

title: Eric Lesser
text: the blueprint for the plan ultimately adopted by the Massachusetts State Senate in its 2015 budget, which allocated $100,000 in state funds to buy doses of the drug Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, which can reverse opiate overdoses. Later in 2015, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced a settlement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the manufacturer of naloxone, in which Amphastar paid $325,000 into the state's bulk purchasing program. The state's fund spent $377,000 to buy 11,050 doses of naloxone and 8,750 applicators; as of November 30, 2016, 8,500 doses have been distributed to cities and towns in Massachusetts, saving local

title: Jamie Eldridge
text: 2010. Eldridge has proposed a variety of legislation on the environment, economic justice, and a variety of other issues in his legislative career. He was the lead sponsor of bullying-prevention legislation, a version of which was passed by the legislature and signed into law in 2010. In his current term in the state senate, Senator Eldridge has promised to fight for single-payer healthcare. On February 28, 2014, Eldridge endorsed Don Berwick for governor in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2014 In January 2016, Eldridge formally endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016. He later served as a delegate

title: Massachusetts
text: lose the seat in the 2012 Senate election to Elizabeth Warren, the first female senator to represent Massachusetts. A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in Massachusetts, such as the decision in 2003 by the state Supreme Judicial Court allowing same-sex marriage and a 2006 bill which mandated health insurance for all Bay Staters. In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. Voters in Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana. Following the approval of a ballot question endorsing legalization in

title: Prescription drug prices in the United States
text: companies could raise drug prices. Under the plan, drugs with a “significant price increase” would have to explain the price rise to the HHS a minimum of 30 days before implementing the price hike. Although Turing Pharmaceuticals’ Daraprim price rise of 5000% overnight would meet the proposal’s definition of a “significant price increase,” under the proposed plan, Mylan's well-publicized price increase for EpiPen would fall below the thresholds in the plan’s criteria for enforcement. On October 9, 2017 Governor Jerry Brown of California passed Senate Bill 17 (SB-17) Health care: prescription drug costs. This bill focuses on transparency regarding pharmaceutical

title: Massachusetts health care reform
text: to operate an expanded Medicaid program. Under the existing waiver, the state was receiving $385 million in federal funds to reimburse hospitals for services provided to the uninsured. The free care pool had to be restructured so that individuals, rather than institutions, received the funding. Then-U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) made a special effort to broker a compromise between the Republican Governor and the Democratic State Legislature. In Fall 2005, the House and Senate each passed health care insurance reform bills. The legislature made a number of changes to Governor Romney's original proposal, including expanding MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage

title: Massachusetts health care reform
text: Care Today) Coalition introduced a bill that expanded MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage and increased health coverage subsidy programs and required employers to either provide coverage or pay an assessment to the state. The coalition began gathering signatures to place their proposal on the ballot in November 2006 if the legislature did not enact comprehensive health care reform, resulting in the collection of over 75,000 signatures on the MassACT ballot proposal. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation sponsored a study, "Roadmap to Coverage," to expand coverage to everyone in the Commonwealth. Attention focused on the House when then-Massachusetts House Speaker

title: Massachusetts health care reform
text: Salvatore DiMasi, speaking at a Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation Roadmap To Coverage forum in October 2005, pledged to pass a bill through the House by the end of the session. At the forum, the Foundation issued a series of reports on reform options, all of which included an individual mandate. At the end of the month, the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing approved a reform proposal crafted by House Speaker DiMasi, Committee co-chair Patricia Walrath, and other House members. The state faced pressure from the federal government to make changes to the federal waiver that allows the state

title: Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act
text: votes from "yea" to "nay". The bill passed 220-215. The Democrats cried foul, and Bill Thomas, the Republican chairman of the Ways and Means committee, challenged the result in a gesture to satisfy the concerns of the minority. He subsequently voted to table his own challenge; the tally to table was 210 ayes, 193 noes. The Senate's consideration of the conference report was somewhat less heated, as cloture on it was invoked by a vote of 70-29. However, a budget point of order raised by Tom Daschle, and voted on. As 60 votes were necessary to override it, the challenge

title: Charlie Baker
text: a crime. In January 2016, Baker's administration announced $6.8 million in grants to prescription drug misuse prevention programs for youth in 16 towns and $700,000 in grants to police and fire departments in more than 30 towns to facilitate bulk purchases of naloxone, and Baker signed into law a bill legally prohibiting the civil commitment of women for substance abuse to MCI Framingham and diverting those commitments to treatment centers, such as Taunton State Hospital. In February 2016, Baker announced $2.5 million in federal grants for opioid and heroin crime reduction to Massachusetts criminal justice agencies, as well as a

title: Chellie Pingree
text: her tenure as a state legislator, Pingree gained nationwide headlines when she authored the nation's first bill regulating prescription drug prices, Maine Rx. Pingree also shepherded Maine's largest land-bill initiative, Land for Maine's Future. In 2002, Pingree made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican junior U.S. Senator Susan Collins. Collins, a popular moderate incumbent, won by a margin of 16%. In April 2007, Pingree filed papers for her bid to run for Maine's 1st congressional district. On August 15, 2007, EMILY's List endorsed Pingree's campaign for Congress in Maine's 1st District. In December 2007 she