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. Luján, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Slotkin, and Mr. Bennet) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
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.