[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 542 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 542

 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to clarify that section 
  1927 of that Act does not prohibit a State from entering into drug 
   rebate agreements in order to make outpatient prescription drugs 
   accessible and affordable for residents of the State who are not 
 otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the medicaid program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2003

   Ms. Stabenow (for herself, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Leahy, Mr. 
  Levin, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Johnson) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to clarify that section 
  1927 of that Act does not prohibit a State from entering into drug 
   rebate agreements in order to make outpatient prescription drugs 
   accessible and affordable for residents of the State who are not 
 otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the medicaid program.

    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 ``Rx Flexibility for States Act''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF STATE AUTHORITY RELATING TO MEDICAID DRUG 
              REBATE AGREEMENTS.

    Section 1927 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396r-8) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed as prohibiting a State from--
            ``(1) directly entering into rebate agreements (on the 
        State's own initiative or under a section 1115 waiver approved 
        by the Secretary before, on, or after the date of enactment of 
        this subsection) that are similar to a rebate agreement 
        described in subsection (b) with a manufacturer for purposes of 
        ensuring the affordability of outpatient prescription drugs in 
        order to provide access to such drugs by residents of a State 
        who are not otherwise eligible for medical assistance under 
        this title; or
            ``(2) making prior authorization (that satisfies the 
        requirements of subsection (d) and that does not violate any 
        requirements of this title that are designed to ensure access 
        to medically necessary prescribed drugs for individuals 
        enrolled in the State program under this title) a condition of 
        not participating in such a similar rebate agreement.''.
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