{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://buchanan.house.gov/2023/12/buchanan-alzheimer-s-bill-cleared-for-house-consideration", "Buchanan Alzheimer\u2019s Bill Cleared for House Consideration", "2023-12-07", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Vern Buchanan", "B001260", "buchanan.house.gov", "buchanan", "https://buchanan.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Congressman Vern Buchanan today announced that his legislation to help ensure coverage of potentially life-saving drugs and new treatments for seniors with Alzheimer\u2019s disease has successfully passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is now cleared for consideration by the full House.\n\nLast month, this legislation passed out of House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.\n\nYesterday, the Energy and Commerce Committee also passed another bill Buchanan helped introduce, the Supporting Innovation for Seniors Act (H.R. 5388). This legislation would expand flexibility for Medicare Advantage plans to cover innovative products beyond what traditional Medicare offers.\n\nIn an unprecedented move last year, bureaucrats at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unilaterally restricted coverage for the first new treatment for Alzheimer\u2019s disease (Aduhelm) in nearly two decades, despite prior approval from scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).\n\n\u201cThe federal government should make it easier for seniors to access breakthrough treatments, not unreasonably restrict potentially life-changing drugs for our nation\u2019s most vulnerable patients,\u201d said Buchanan. \u201cUnfortunately, the Biden administration and unelected bureaucrats in Washington have continuously pursued policies that will stifle innovation and halt progress toward revolutionary cures. That is why I am so pleased to see this important legislation pass out of committee and come one step closer to becoming law.\u201d\n\nBuchanan introduced the MERIT Act (H.R. 133) with Congresswoman Nanette Barrag\u00e1n (D-CA), and it has been endorsed by the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, UsAgainstAlzheimer\u2019s, Association of Mature American Citizens, Byrd Alzheimer\u2019s Center and Research Institute and the Global Alzheimer\u2019s Platform Foundation.\n\nRobert Egge, Alzheimer\u2019s Association chief public policy officer and Alzheimer\u2019s Impact Movement (AIM) executive director celebrated committee action and praised Buchanan\u2019s leadership on the issue, saying \u201cIndividual Alzheimer\u2019s treatments act differently, even if they achieve similar end results. Thank you to Representatives Buchanan and Barrag\u00e1n for their leadership on the bipartisan MERIT Act, which will ensure that CMS evaluates treatments individually and based on their own merits, rather than as a broad class of drugs. As new treatments are approved, the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer\u2019s and other dementia cannot afford delays.\u201d\n\nBuchanan originally introduced the MERIT Act last Congress following the announcement from CMS that they would restrict access to the breakthrough new drug, Aduhelm.\n\nBy requiring CMS to review each drug individually, the MERIT Act will undo the actions taken by CMS that would otherwise unnecessarily limit access to drugs like Aduhelm for seniors. With additional drugs to treat Alzheimer\u2019s coming to the market, this bill will ensure those drugs receive fair and accurate consideration for coverage, rather than requiring onerous additional steps before CMS will make them available to Medicare beneficiaries.\n\nEarlier this year, Congressman Buchanan hosted a press conference with key stakeholders calling for action to help American\u2019s suffering with Alzheimer\u2019s access these FDA approved treatments.\n\nBuchanan has had 30 legislative measures signed into law since taking office with four initiatives signed by President Bush, six by President Obama and 13 by President Trump. He has also seen seven legislative proposals signed into law by President Biden.\n\nIn addition to being the vice chairman and most senior Republican on the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, Buchanan is also the chairman of the Health Subcommittee, which has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit program and Medicare Advantage.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://buchanan.house.gov/2023/12/buchanan-alzheimer-s-bill-cleared-for-house-consideration"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.784496009349823, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}