S. 927 · Where this bill is now
In committee
Introduced in the Senate, Mar 11, 2025
What this bill does
In plain words · AI-written from the official summarySurvey and pricing rules for Medicaid pharmacies
This bill gives the government money to survey pharmacies about drug prices under Medicaid, the health program for lower-income people. Pharmacies that don't participate face penalties. The bill also bars a pricing practice called spread-pricing and requires a different payment model when pharmacy benefit managers (companies that handle prescription drug coverage) work with Medicaid.
How it affects you
Pharmacies—especially retail and mail-order ones—will need to share pricing data with the government or face penalties. The pricing rules may affect how much pharmacies are paid for dispensing drugs to Medicaid patients, though the summary doesn't detail what changes that brings to individual patients or pharmacy customers.
Read the official summary (Introduced in Senate, Mar 11, 2025)
Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act
This bill provides funds beginning in FY2026 for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to survey retail and non-retail pharmacies (e.g., mail-order pharmacies) to determine average prices of covered outpatient drugs under Medicaid. Pharmacies that fail to participate in the surveys are subject to civil penalties.
The bill additionally provides funds for FY2026 for the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to study the results of the survey and report accordingly to Congress.
The bill also requires pass-through pricing models, and prohibits spread-pricing, for payment arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers under Medicaid.
Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.
1st SessionS. 927
A BILL
Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act
Sponsor: Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) · Introduced Mar 11, 2025 · Health · 1 version of the text
Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Mar 11, 2025: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.”