{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/2025/12/fitzpatrick-leads-bipartisan-effort-to-protect-patients-from-high-prescription-drug-costs", "Fitzpatrick Leads Bipartisan Effort to Protect Patients from High Prescription Drug Costs", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Brian K. Fitzpatrick", "F000466", "fitzpatrick.house.gov", "fitzpatrick", "https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), along with Representatives Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Nanette Barrag\u00e1n (D-CA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), introduced the Help Ensure Lower Patient (HELP) Copays Act\u2014bipartisan legislation to make life-saving prescription medications more affordable for patients with rare, serious, and chronic conditions. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate bill by Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Tom Kaine (D-VA).\n\nThe bill would require insurance companies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to count the value of copay assistance they receive on a patient\u2019s behalf toward cost-sharing requirements. This reform guarantees that payments, whether made directly by a patient or with support from non-profit organizations or prescription drug manufacturers, contribute toward a patient\u2019s annual deductible and out-of-pocket limit as intended.\n\n\u201cFor people living with chronic and rare diseases, copay assistance is often the only path to staying on lifesaving treatment. Yet far too many are paying twice, while insurers and PBMs pocket that assistance without ever counting it toward a patient\u2019s costs. That\u2019s wrong\u2014and it\u2019s exactly what the bipartisan HELP Copays Act corrects. This is common-sense, patient-first reform to lower out-of-pocket costs and ensure every dollar intended to help a patient actually does,\u201d said Fitzpatrick.\n\nSpecifically, the HELP Copays Act would:\n\nClarify the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to require that health plans count payments made \u201cby or on behalf of\u201d patients, including financial assistance from non-profit organizations and prescription drug manufacturers, toward deductibles and out-of-pocket limits.\n\nClose the ACA's Essential Health Benefit (EHB) loophole to ensure that any prescription drug covered by a health plan is defined as \u201cessential\u201d, so that all related cost-sharing is counted towards a patient\u2019s annual cost-sharing protections.\n\n\u201cCopay assistance programs help make costly medications attainable for Americans who rely on them. Yet under current law, insurers and PBMs can pocket this assistance without lowering patients' cost-sharing obligations. Our bipartisan legislation will fix that problem by ensuring those savings are passed on to patients. This solution will protect access to essential prescription drugs, reduce overall healthcare costs for families, and hold these health companies accountable,\u201d said Kean, Jr.\n\n\u201cToo many patients are forced to walk away from the pharmacy counter because their out-of-pocket costs are simply too high. The HELP Copays Act is a commonsense, bipartisan solution that ensures financial assistance, from nonprofits or drug manufacturers, actually counts toward a patient\u2019s deductible and copay. As a physician, I know how devastating it is when a patient can\u2019t afford the medication they need. This bill puts patients first by lowering their real, day-to-day costs and stopping insurance companies from shifting more of the burden onto families,\u201d said Miller-Meeks\n\n\"Drug pricing middlemen want patients to pay deductibles twice. That\u2019s not how insurance should work. With this bill, those schemes stop,\u201d said Auchincloss.\n\n\u201cFor patients living with complex and chronic diseases, access to prescription drugs that help them manage their condition saves lives, plain and simple. But too many Americans are unable to afford the medications they need because the out-of-pocket costs are too high. This is unacceptable. Americans work hard every day to make sure they can feed their families and take care of their loved ones. They should not be priced out of receiving the life-saving medications they rely on. That is why I am proud to co-lead, the HELP Copays Act, with Congressman Kean. This bipartisan bill will help working American families afford their prescriptions by putting a stop to harmful practices by insurance companies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and ensuring that patients\u2019 copay assistance counts towards their cost-sharing requirements. Because drug affordability is not a blue-state issue or a red-state issue \u2014 it is an issue that affects tens of millions across the country and in every state,\u201d said Barrag\u00e1n.\n\nThroughout his service in Congress, Fitzpatrick has been a champion for affordable, patient-centered healthcare \u2014 leading bipartisan efforts to lower prescription drug costs, increase access to life-saving treatments, and stop insurers from shifting more of the burden onto families. The HELP Copays Act is the latest step in that ongoing commitment.\n\nThe full text is available HERE.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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://fitzpatrick.house.gov/2025/12/fitzpatrick-leads-bipartisan-effort-to-protect-patients-from-high-prescription-drug-costs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7914139423519373, "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"}