S. 348: Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2017
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S. 348: Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2017
115th Congress · introduced 2017-02-09 · Health · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
federal
Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2017-02-09 · official record
- Who proposed it: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
- If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.
Official title
Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2017
Plain summary
Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2017 This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate lower prices on behalf of Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries for covered prescription drugs that the CMS deems appropriate for negotiation based on: (1) program and per-beneficiary spending, (2) unit price increases over the preceding years, (3) initial launch price, (4) availability of similarly effective alternative treatments, (5) status of the drug as a follow-on to previously approved drugs, and (6) any other criteria determined by the CMS. If, after a one year period, negotiations with respect to a covered prescription drug prove unsuccessful, the CMS shall establish a price for the drug that is equal to the lesser of the price paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the price paid by the four largest federal pharmaceutical-drug purchasers. The CMS may (but is not required to) negotiate lower prices on behalf of Medicare and MA beneficiaries for other covered prescription drugs. The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the CMS' negotiations. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation must test several specified models for negotiating drug and biological prices.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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A “Nay” vote
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What does this mean? (plain words)
Official text
Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2017
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Franken, Al [D-MN] · 3 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Jack Reed (D-RI), Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY)
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.
Words on this page, explained (2)
- Appropriation
- Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s348.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>
Record fed-us-cong115-s348 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115