S. 1836

119 S1836 IS: Strengthening Medicare And Reducing Taxpayer Prices Act
 U.S. Senate
 2025-05-21
 text/xml
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  II
  119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
  S. 1836
  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
  May 21, 2025
  Ms. Klobuchar  (for herself,  Mr. Welch ,  Ms.
  Smith ,  Mr. King ,  Ms. Cantwell ,  Mr.
  Reed ,  Mr. Whitehouse ,
  Ms. Duckworth ,  Ms. Warren ,  Mrs. Gillibrand ,
  Mr. Merkley ,  Mrs. Murray ,  Mr. Blumenthal ,
  Mrs. Shaheen ,  Ms. Cortez Masto ,  Ms.
  Baldwin ,  Mr. Booker ,  Mr. Van Hollen ,  Mr.
  Durbin ,  Mr. Murphy ,  Mr. Fetterman ,  Mr.
  Markey ,  Mr. Luján ,  Ms. Hassan ,  Mr.
  Heinrich ,  Ms. Slotkin , and
  Mr. Bennet ) 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 strengthen the drug
  pricing reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Strengthening Medicare And Reducing Taxpayer Prices Act   or the   SMART Prices Act  .
2.
Improvements to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
(a)
Acceleration of the selection of
  negotiation-Eligible drugs
Section 1192(a) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1320f–1(a) ) is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (3)—
(A)
by striking  2028, 15 negotiation-eligible drugs  and inserting  2028 or a subsequent year, 50 negotiation-eligible drugs ; and
(B)
by striking  ; and  at the end and inserting a period; and
(2)
by striking paragraph (4).
(b)
Improvements to the definition of qualifying single source drug
Section 1192(e)(1) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1320f–1(e)(1) ) is amended—
(1)
in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking  7 years  and inserting  3 years ; and
(2)
in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking  11 years  and inserting  3 years .
(c)
Improvement to the ceiling for maximum fair price
Section 1194(c)(3) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1320f–3(c)(3) ) is amended—
(1)
in subparagraph (A), by striking  75 percent  and inserting  76 percent ;
(2)
in subparagraph (B), by striking  65 percent  and inserting  55 percent ; and
(3)
in subparagraph (C), by striking  40 percent  and inserting  30 percent .
(d)
Effective date
The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to initial price applicability years (as defined in section 1191(b) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1320f(b) )) beginning with initial price applicability year 2028.