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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strengthen the drug pricing reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Summary
This bill strengthens Medicare's drug price negotiation program established by the Inflation Reduction Act. It increases the number of drugs eligible for price negotiation from 15 to 50 by 2028, and accelerates when drugs become eligible by shortening the exclusivity period from 7-11 years to 3 years. The bill also adjusts the price ceilings for negotiated drug prices across different drug categories. These changes take effect beginning with the 2028 pricing year.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
26 cosponsors
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI)
- Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] (D-WA)
- Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] (D-NV)
- Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL] (D-IL)
- Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (D-IL)
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA)
- Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY)
- Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME)
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT] (D-CT)
- Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] (D-WA)
- Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI] (D-RI)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Slotkin, Elissa [D-MI] (D-MI)
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
- Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI)
Actions (2)
- May 21, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- May 21, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
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Full text
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. Lujan, 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.
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 “Strengthening Medicare And Reducing Taxpayer Prices Act” or the “SMART Prices Act”.
SEC. 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. <all>
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