On Wednesday of this week the Senate Finance Committee put forth the Prescription Drug Pricing Act of 2019. The Lymphedema Treatment Act was one of a number of other provisions then added as amendments!
On Thursday, some of the amendments, particularly those not related to drug pricing, were withdrawn by the sponsors of those amendments. But don’t fret, this is what was expected to occur and this procedural move has significance.
The goal of this action was to seek commitments from Finance Committee leadership to work with us to move the LTA in the fall. We are very grateful to Senator Cantwell and Senator Young for their willingness to use this opportunity to further our hopes of passing the bill this year.
By offering a provision as an amendment those Senators were also staking a claim on a slice of what is expected to be a significant amount of savings should this drug pricing bill pass. Those savings can then be used to fund other measures, such as ours. This is the all-important “pay-for” referred to in last week’s newsletter.
There are still many steps ahead, but this was an important one!
Heather Ferguson
Founder & Executive Director
Lymphedema Advocacy Group
LymphedemaTreatmentAct.org
