PSI Sci
New here? Follow the money and the votes · Not sure of your district? Find your U.S. House member · Find your state legislators

H.R. 4209: Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2012

Before you vote › Federal bills

H.R. 4209: Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2012

112th Congress · introduced 2012-03-19 · Health · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

  1. Where it came from: introduced 2012-03-19 · official record
  2. Who proposed it: Rep. McKinley, David B. [R-WV-1] · what a sponsor is
  3. What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
  4. Where it stands now: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
  5. If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2012

Plain summary

Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2012 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a health plan offering group or individual health insurance that provides coverage for prescription drugs and uses a formulary or other tiered cost-sharing structure from imposing co-payment, coinsurance, or other cost-sharing requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a specialty drug tier that exceed the dollar amount of such requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a non-preferred brand drug tier. Provides that if a formulary used by such a health plan contains more than one non-preferred brand drug tier, such prohibition shall be applied with respect to the non-preferred brand drug tier for which beneficiary cost-sharing is lowest. Defines: (1) "non-preferred brand drug tier" as a category of drugs within a tier in such formulary for which beneficiary cost-sharing is greater than tiers for generic drugs or preferred brand drugs in the plan's formulary, that are prescription drugs, and that are not included within a specialty drug tier; and (2) "specialty drug tier" as a category of drugs within a tier in such formulary for which beneficiary cost-sharing is greater than tiers for generic drugs, preferred brand drugs, or non-preferred drugs in the plan's formulary and that are prescription drugs.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Patients' Access to Treatments Act of 2012

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)

AI explanation – may be wrong, check the official text

No AI explanation yet. It takes up to a minute to write and is then saved for everyone.

Limited to a few requests an hour per person.

The strongest published arguments

Arguments for (supporters)

Needs sources: no published arguments on this side yet. We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

Arguments against (opponents)

Needs sources: no published arguments on this side yet. We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. McKinley, David B. [R-WV-1] · 43 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Henry Cuellar (D-TX), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

Record fed-us-cong112-hr4209 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong112 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong112