# 119-s-4323: Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act

119-s-4323, Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-10).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4323
- As of: 2026-08-10
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4323
- Congress: 119
- Title: Ensuring Access to Lower-Cost Medicines for Seniors Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-16
- Sponsor: Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-10

## Summary

**Require Medicare Part D plans to include lower-cost generics and biosimilars.** This bill would require prescription drug plan sponsors and Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans offering Part D to add generics and at least one biosimilar when the referenced brand is on the formulary, and to create dedicated lower-cost tiers for those products. - Families and seniors: Would get broader access to generics and biosimilars and lower out-of-pocket costs after the deductible. Changes apply to plan years beginning on or after Jan 1, 2028. - Plan sponsors and MA-PD plans: Would have to include any Part D generic whose wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) is lower than the reference drug and at least one lower-WAC biosimilar, follow uniform rules the Secretary sets, and make timely (including quarterly) coverage determinations. - Cost-sharing and benefit design: If a plan uses tiers it must create at least one tier only for generics and biosimilars with copays at least $20 lower than the lowest branded tier or coinsurance at least $20 lower, and specialty tiers must include a parallel generic/biosimilar option with coinsurance at least 5 percentage points lower.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH] (D-NH), 2026-04-16T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Lower-cost drug tiers for Medicare: benefit, medium. If enacted, and starting with plan years on or after January 1, 2028, Medicare Part D plans that use tiers would have to keep at least one tier containing only generics and biosimilars. That tier's copay would have to be at least $20 lower than the plan's lowest branded-tier copay (or the dollar-eq…
- Definitions and legal cleanups: benefit, low. If enacted, and starting with plan years on or after January 1, 2028, the bill would add clear definitions for Part D terms. It would say what counts as a Part D generic drug, a biosimilar, a reference drug or biological product, and what wholesale acquisition cost means for these rules. It would a…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-545: Combating Illicit Xylazine Act
- 119-s-199: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the…
- 119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-s-558: Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-4323 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4323)

## Related
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-545: Combating Illicit Xylazine Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-545)
- [119-s-199: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-199)
- [119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1816)
- [119-s-558: Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-558)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4323 (as of 2026-08-10).