Title: Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act of 2017
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act of 2017
This bill modifies requirements regarding access to preferred pharmacies (i.e., pharmacies that provide reduced enrollee cost sharing for prescription drugs) under a Medicare prescription drug plan (PDP).
Specifically, if a Medicare PDP has, in its pharmacy network, one or more preferred pharmacies located in a health shortage or medically underserved area, then the PDP sponsor must allow any pharmacy in the health shortage or medically underserved area to join the preferred pharmacy network under comparable terms and conditions.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1044 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1044

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure equal access 
of Medicare beneficiaries to community pharmacies in underserved areas 
 as network pharmacies under Medicare prescription drug coverage, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2017

   Mrs. Capito (for herself, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Manchin) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure equal access 
of Medicare beneficiaries to community pharmacies in underserved areas 
 as network pharmacies under Medicare prescription drug coverage, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Ensuring Seniors Access to Local 
Pharmacies Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. ALLOWING ANY STATE BOARD CERTIFIED PHARMACY SERVING AN 
              UNDERSERVED AREA TO BECOME A NETWORK PHARMACY UNDER 
              MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE.

    (a) In General.--Section 1860D-4(b)(1)(B) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-104(b)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Discounts allowed for network 
        pharmacies.--For'' and inserting the following: ``Discounts 
        allowed for network pharmacies.--
                            ``(i) In general.--For''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new clause:
                            ``(ii) Inclusion of pharmacies located in 
                        underserved areas in networks.--In the case of 
                        a prescription drug plan that has, in its 
                        network of pharmacies, one or more pharmacies 
                        located in a health professional shortage area 
                        (as defined in section 332(a)(1)(A) of the 
                        Public Health Service Act), in a medically 
                        underserved area (according to a designation 
                        under section 330(b)(3)(A) of the Public Health 
                        Service Act), or among a medically underserved 
                        population (as defined in such section 
                        330(b)(3)(A) of such Act), and that provides a 
                        reduction in coinsurance or copayments 
                        described in clause (i) for covered part D 
                        drugs dispensed through such pharmacies, such 
                        plan shall extend to any pharmacy located in 
                        such area or among such population the option 
                        to be an in-network pharmacy with respect to 
                        such plan under terms and conditions (including 
                        the reductions described in clause (i)) 
                        comparable to those the plan has agreed upon 
                        with other in-network pharmacies located in 
                        such area or among such population.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2018.
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