Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I also come to speak on this important piece of legislation and in favor of this important piece of legislation.

I just visited with Senator Collins, who knows--as so many Members of this body do--that I practiced medicine for a long time before coming to the Senate. I took care of a lot of Wyoming families as a practicing physician.

As a doctor, I often prescribed medication to help my patients fight disease and to improve their quality of life, so I know the importance of prescription medication. I also know the importance that pharmacists play in the lives of their patients as well because the same patients I am taking care of, the pharmacist is also caring for. In so many ways, the pharmacist has to be able to speak freely to their patients about information about their medications. Pharmacists are often that last line of defense when they place a call to the doctor's office to say: Mrs. Jones is here. By the way, you prescribed this, but don't forget that she is allergic to this medication, and there might be some interaction, or she is already on this medicine, or this patient is on that medicine.

Pharmacists provide vital and important roles to patients on a daily basis. It happens all around the country. They need to be able to speak freely about those things. They need to be able to speak freely about the things that can save a patient's life and also things that can save a patient money, and that is what this whole piece of legislation is about.

I know many patients fail to take medications that their doctors might prescribe because of the cost involved, the expense of the medicines. That is why I am so glad to see President Trump make it a priority to find ways to lower the costs that people pay for their medicine. The administration actually put out a blueprint for ways we could address drug costs.

Part of the plan was to eliminate the so-called pharmacy gag clauses. Pharmacists should not be gagged. They need to be able to talk with the patients, whether it is about drug interaction, the drug use, how to take it, how to use it properly, and the costs. These are important things for a pharmacist to be able to discuss.

These gag clauses are clauses that are sometimes included in contracts that are not between the patient and the pharmacist. They are contracts between a drug company and an insurance company. This needs to be stopped.

The gag clause says that if a patient brings a prescription to the drugstore to be filled, the pharmacist cannot talk about the cash price of the drug. It is not allowed. It is wrong.

Maybe someone had an insurance plan where their copay for the medicine, let's say, was $10, and the prescription they are filling actually cost them $5 if they paid in cash, but under the gag clause, the pharmacist is not allowed to say anything about it. Pharmacists need to be able to speak up. It is important. It is important for the patient. It is important for the integrity of the process.

Right now, the pharmacist can't tell the patient: You know, you can save a little money if you just paid cash and you didn't bother to use the insurance along the way. The way things are now, the insurance company would collect its $10 copayment from the patient. They only have to pay $5 to the drug company and keep the rest, and the patient doesn't know anything about it. The patient is left in the dark because the pharmacist cannot share this important information with the patient. I believe it is wrong, and that is why I cosponsored the legislation that is on the floor right now.

The Trump administration has taken a close look at the situation, and they completely agreed. They said people should know if there is a simple way they can save money. As we vote on this legislation today, I am hoping Congress agrees.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed legislation that prohibits the gag clauses for Medicare plans, and that was the right thing to do. It passed unanimously, and I am so happy to see that. Today we are taking the next step. We are going beyond Medicare.

This legislation we are about to vote on eliminates the gag clauses in insurance plans that people get through their employer, through their work, or plans they buy on their own. It is not just Medicare that we took care of before, this takes it to the next step, giving the pharmacists the freedom to speak.

We are saying with a clear voice today that patients should be able to talk with their pharmacists and pharmacists should be able to talk with their patients to know if they are paying the lowest price for their medications.

I support this bill. I thank the Members who led this bipartisan effort. It was a privilege to work with Senator Collins, Senator Stabenow, Senator Cassidy, and Senator McCaskill, who was just on the floor, to get this done.

I appreciate your attention, Madam President, to this important piece of legislation. I look forward to voting to support it and getting it passed today and getting it down to the President for his signature.

Thank you.

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