This week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., got his proposal to “help ensure coverage of potentially life-saving drugs and new treatments for seniors with Alzheimer’s” through a key committee.
At the start of the year, Buchanan brought back the “Mandating Exclusive Review of Individual Treatments (MERIT) Act” which he highlighted at a media event this week.
“The federal government should make it easier for seniors to access breakthrough treatments, not unreasonably restrict potentially life-changing drugs for our nation’s most vulnerable patients,” said Buchanan. “By requiring drugs to be evaluated for Medicare coverage based on their own merit, my legislation would help Americans suffering with Alzheimer’s access these FDA approved treatments.”
“In an unprecedented move, last year unelected bureaucrats at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unilaterally restricted coverage for the first new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (Aduhelm) in nearly two decades, despite prior approval from scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” Buchanan’s office noted. “Similarly, another new drug to treat Alzheimer’s was approved by the FDA, but due to the wide net cast by CMS in restricting similar drugs to Aduhelm, it is not eligible for Medicare coverage. The Department of Veterans Affairs, however, did cover this new drug for our nation’s veterans suffering with Alzheimer’s.
“To protect similar drugs from future bureaucratic overreach, Buchanan’s MERIT Act requires the CMS to evaluate treatments and cures individually and based on their own merits, rather than as a broad class of drugs,” Buchanan’s office added.
Buchanan was able to get his bill through the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. However, the bill is still before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on which Buchanan sits.
The Alzheimer’s Association, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation are all backing the proposal.
U.S. Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragan, D-Calif., and Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., are co-sponsoring Buchanan’s proposal. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. Senate.
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