Senate Set to Debate Merged Health Care Reform Bill

By Alan M. Kirschenbaum –

Yesterday, the Senate voted 60 to 40 to send its 2,074-page health care reform bill, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” to the floor for debate.  The bill represents a merger of two bills reported by the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, respectively.  Like its House counterpart, the Senate bill contains major changes to the Medicaid Rebate Program, Medicaid drug reimbursement, Medicare Part D, the 340B Drug Discount Program, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as well as new physician payment reporting requirements for drug and device companies.  As we previously did for H.R. 3296, the health care reform bill that passed the House on November 7, we have prepared an outline summarizing the most significant drug- and device- related provisions of the Senate bill.  The outline can be found here.  The Democratic leadership of the Senate expects to debate the bill and vote on it by the end of December.