Rep. Taylor: Pharmacy Gag Orders Bad for Health Care

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 -- Rep. Scott Taylor, R-Virginia, issued the following news release:

This week, the White House announced that President Trump signed two bills into law that would remove "gag order" clauses from contracts between pharmacies and insurance companies. These clauses prohibit pharmacists from informing their customers that they can save money by paying the lower cash price for pharmaceuticals rather than the price given by their insurance plans.

The first bill, S. 2553, the Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018, prohibits a prescription drug plan under Medicare or Medicare Advantage from restricting a pharmacy from informing an enrollee of any difference between the price, co-payment, or coinsurance of a drug under the plan and a lower price of the drug without health-insurance coverage. The second bill, S. 2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, ensures that health insurance issuers and group health plans do not prohibit pharmacy providers from providing certain information to enrollees.

Earlier this year, Congressman Scott Taylor cosponsored the House companion bill for these two pieces of legislation, H.R.4808, the Transparent Health Care Pricing Act of 2018, which aims to create the same kind of transparency between consumers, pharmacies and insurance companies.

"Pharmacy gag orders are the antithesis of transparency. I am very pleased the President has decided to act on these bills passed by Congress and sign them into law. By making health care prices publicly available, we can empower consumers and spur competition which will ultimately bring down health care costs for everyone and increase accountability," said Congressman Scott Taylor.