Senate seeks more time on drug pricing disclosure bill
Mark Goebel via Flickr
A decision on a drug pricing bill by the Senate could be postponed until June.
The Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing may soon have until June 1 to decide on a bill that would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose elements of their pricing practices.
The Senate on Thursday adopted an extension order, giving the committee additional time to decide on Sen. Mark Montigny's bill (S 1048), which would charge manufacturers of certain prescription drugs with maintaining and reporting information on the costs of developing and marketing those medications. The extension request was sent to the House.
The committee received the bill in September 2015 and held a hearing on it April 11. Supporters described it as a critical measure to inform public policy debates and contain rising health care costs. Critics, including pharmaceutical industry representatives, warned that the bill could stifle innovation and frighten away investors.
Sen. James Welch, a West Springfield Democrat who co-chairs the Health Care Financing Committee, said Thursday that the bill deals with "a very important subject matter the committee would like to address and tackle."
"The committee feels as though it just needs some extra time to discuss it and look in terms of what is the best way to proceed," Welch said.
Formal legislative meetings end July 31 this year, so the window for action on controversial bills is closing.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments