# 119-s-927: Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act

119-s-927, Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-927
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-927
- Congress: 119
- Title: Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-03-11
- Sponsor: Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**This bill would require transparent pass-through pricing to stop pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) spread pricing.** It would also create monthly NADAC surveys for retail pharmacies, separate surveys for non-retail types, and add new reporting, penalties, and funding to enforce those changes. - Pharmacies: Retail community pharmacies would get monthly national average drug acquisition cost (NADAC) benchmarks and public data on response rates and price concessions. Applicable non-retail types such as mail-order and specialty pharmacies would be surveyed separately after 18 months. - PBMs and managed-care entities: Contracts covering Medicaid drugs would have to pass ingredient cost plus a professional dispensing fee through to the dispensing pharmacy, report detailed cost and payment data by drug, ensure administrative payments reflect fair market value, and would be barred from using spread pricing to claim Federal Medicaid matching. - Oversight and penalties: HHS’s Inspector General would study survey data and report to Congress, the Secretary must publish guidance identifying applicable non-retail pharmacies by January 1, 2027, and civil penalties for survey noncompliance could reach $100,000 per violation. *This bill would increase federal spending with a $5.0 million appropriation in FY2026 and $9.0 million in each subsequent year.*

## Cosponsors (3)

- Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] (R-KS), 2025-03-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA] (D-VA), 2025-03-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] (R-LA), 2025-03-11T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Monthly pharmacy price surveys and fines: cost, high. If enacted, HHS would run monthly surveys to set national average drug acquisition costs for retail and non‑retail pharmacies. Vendors would update HHS at least monthly and States would require any pharmacy receiving Medicaid‑related payments to answer survey requests. The government would publish…
- Pass-through pricing rules for Medicaid drugs: mixed, high. If enacted, States would have to put pass‑through drug pricing into new Medicaid drug contracts starting 18 months after enactment. Payments would be limited to ingredient cost plus a professional dispensing fee at least as large as the State plan fee, and must generally be passed in full to the di…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-882: Patients Before Middlemen Act
- 119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025
- 119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-927 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/927)

## Related
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-882: Patients Before Middlemen Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-882)
- [119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4744)
- [119-s-410: Love Lives On Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-410)
- [119-s-1816: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1816)
- [119-s-1261: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1261)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-927 (as of 2026-04-21).