OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to the Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader, the Hon. Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip - Repair and Protect Medicare Part D

Letter

By: Mike Rogers, Martha McSally, Tom McClintock, Ed Royce, Doug Lamborn, Ted Yoho, Dennis Ross, Buddy Carter, Jody Hice, Rod Blum, Mike Bost, Adam Kinzinger, Luke Messer, Kevin Yoder, Hal Rogers, Andy Harris, Fred Upton, Dave Trott, Vicky Hartzler, Trent Kelly, Mark Walker, Mark Meadows, Leonard Lance, Lee Zeldin, John Katko, Bill Johnson, Tom Cole, GT Thompson, Jr., Keith Rothfus, Trey Gowdy III, John Duncan, Jr., Marsha Blackburn, Jeb Hensarling, Kay Granger, Pete Olson, Brian Babin, Barbara Comstock, Sean Duffy, Bradley Byrne, Rick Crawford, Debbie Lesko, David Valadao, Mimi Walters, Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, Brian Mast, Karen Handel, Rick Allen, Steve King, Randy Hultgren, Todd Rokita, Roger Marshall, James Comer, Jr., Ralph Abraham, Bill Huizenga, Mike Bishop, Ann Wagner, Billy Long, George Holding, Richard Hudson, Jr., Adrian Smith, Steve Pearce, Elise Stefanik, Steve Chabot, Mike Turner, Mike Kelly, Jr., Bill Shuster, Joe Wilson, Sr., Tom Rice, Scott DesJarlais, Louie Gohmert, Michael McCaul, Bill Flores, Roger Williams, Bob Goodlatte, Dan Newhouse, Alex Mooney, John Culberson, Robert Aderholt, Paul Gosar, Paul Cook, Ken Calvert, Michael Coffman, John Rutherford, Tom Rooney, Drew Ferguson, Barry Loudermilk, David Young, Rodney Davis, Jim Banks, Larry Bucshon, Ron Estes, Mike Johnson, Jack Bergman, Tim Walberg, Tom Emmer, Sam Graves, Greg Gianforte, David Rouzer, Kevin Cramer, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Dan Donovan, Jr., Chris Collins, Bob Gibbs, Steve Russell, Ryan Costello, Lloyd Smucker, Ralph Norman, Jr., Chuck Fleischmann, David Kustoff, Joe Barton, Mac Thornberry, Kenny Marchant, Tom Garrett, Jr., Jaime Herrera Beutler, Mike Gallagher, Martha Roby, Bruce Westerman, Doug LaMalfa, Steve Knight, Ken Buck, Neal Dunn, Bill Posey, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Austin Scott, Tom Graves, Jr., Mike Simpson, John Shimkus, Susan Brooks, Lynn Jenkins, Brett Guthrie, Garret Graves, John Moolenaar, Paul Mitchell, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jason Smith, Virginia Foxx, Robert Pittenger, Tom MacArthur, Mark Amodei, Claudia Tenney, Bob Latta, Steve Stivers, Scott Perry, Lou Barletta, Jeff Duncan, Phil Roe, Diane Black, John Ratcliffe, Mike Conaway, Lamar Smith, John Carter, Dave Brat, Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr., Evan Jenkins
Date: June 8, 2018
Issues: Health Insurance Health and Health Care Arts, Entertainment, and History

Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader McCarthy and Whip Scalise,

We write to support the extraordinary efforts you have made to fix a CBO scoring error from the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) and to protect seniors from a looming Medicare Part D catastrophic cap increase. We support your continued work on these issues and your efforts to attach a fix to an upcoming vehicle.

The scoring error occurred in an estimate of a BBA policy change that undervalued the federal savings attributed to an increase in the discount manufacturers are required to provide in the Part D "coverage gap." The BBA policy change increased the manufacturer discount (from 50% to 70%) and simultaneously reduced the contribution plans were scheduled to provide to help close the Part D donut hole (from 25% to 5% of costs).

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) recently expressed their concern about this change in the Final Part D Call Letter stating, "we have significant concerns about the impact these changes will have on drug costs under Part D in 2019 and future years…"1

Congress should fairly rebalance the policy in the coverage gap so that Medicare Part D continues to contain appropriate incentives to help control costs and the policy matches the federal savings originally intended in BBA. Correcting the discount policy will ensure that Part D remains a robust, market‐based program.

The second issue requires a change to ensure Medicare seniors are protected from an almost $1,500 increase to the Medicare Part D catastrophic attachment point. This increase will occur January 1, 2020, if Congress does not act. This looming hike is, unfortunately, a result of an Affordable Care Act (ACA) gimmick, but one that has real consequences for seniors, many of whom are very sick and on a fixed income. The ACA artificially slowed the rate of growth in the catastrophic coverage limit from 2014 to 2019, allowing more people to enter the catastrophic phase of the benefit where the government shoulders the vast majority of the costs. This change, in addition to other Part D changes under the ACA, has resulted in increased expenditures for the federal government and taxpayers.

We believe Congress can address the impact of the ACA gimmick and responsibly phase in the correction. This will limit the impact to the federal budget while simultaneously ensuring seniors are not exposed to such massive increases.

Congress should act quickly so that Medicare Part D stays on a more responsible path and seniors have longterm predictability. We are prepared to work with you and would support the Committees of jurisdiction's inclusion of policies to correct the BBA error and address the impact of the scheduled catastrophic increase in legislative vehicles being considered for the House floor.

Sincerely,


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