End Price Gouging for Medications Act
Sponsored By: Representative Dingell
In Committee
Summary
Establishes annual reference prices for prescription drugs. This bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set an annual reference price for every prescription drug by using the lowest retail price from a list of 12 reference countries when available or by weighing therapeutic value, patient access, R&D costs, and other factors when foreign data are lacking. The retail list price could not exceed that reference price for beneficiaries in major Federal health programs.
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- Families and patients: People covered by Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, TRICARE, VA care, Federal Employees Health Benefits, and Indian Health programs would face a capped retail list price for prescription drugs, set by the annual reference price.
- Uninsured and private plan enrollees: Manufacturers must offer drugs at the reference price to everyone, including the uninsured and people with group or individual health insurance, so long as insurer payments plus patient cost-sharing do not exceed the reference price.
- Drug makers and research funding: Manufacturers that fail to comply face civil penalties equal to five times the excess annual revenue for each drug, and collected penalties are transferred to the National Institutes of Health for drug research and development.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Drug price caps for patients
HHS would set a yearly reference price for every prescription drug, brand and generic. For people in Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, TRICARE, VA care, FEHB, and Indian Health programs, retail list prices could not go over that amount. If prices exist in at least three of these countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.—the reference price would be the lowest of them. If not, HHS would set the price using the drug’s benefits, value, patient access, R&D costs, and other factors. Manufacturers would have to offer the reference price to everyone, including the uninsured; for people with private insurance, the plan payment plus your share could not be above that price.
Big fines for drug price violations
Drug makers that break the reference-price rule would face a civil penalty. For each drug and year, the penalty would be five times the extra money taken in from federal program sales above the allowed price. Each year, Treasury would send the penalties to NIH, and NIH would use the money for drug research and development.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Dingell
MI • D
Cosponsors
Thanedar
MI • D
Sponsored 10/3/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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