{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/epipen-misclassification-case-study-what-not-do-grassley-tells-cms-administrator", "EpiPen Misclassification is Case Study in What Not to Do, Grassley Tells CMS Administrator Nominee", "2016-12-07", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Charles Grassley", "G000386", "www.grassley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today met with Seema Verma, the nominee of President-elect Donald Trump to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). \u00a0As a senior member of the Finance Committee, Grassley will be involved in considering the nomination. \u00a0He is reviewing drug price increases, especially involving EpiPens, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. \u00a0He made the following comment on the meeting.\u201cAs part of the EpiPen inquiry, I learned that the Obama Administration knew in 2009 that EpiPens, along with Dilaudid and Prilosec, were misclassified under the Medicaid drug rebate program. \u00a0That means the taxpayers overpaid for those drugs. \u00a0For EpiPens alone, the taxpayers probably overpaid by hundreds of millions of dollars. \u00a0It\u2019s unclear whether the Obama Administration did anything to fix this problem for the taxpayers. \u00a0The exact details are lacking because CMS, the Justice Department and the EpiPen maker Mylan refused to testify voluntarily at a hearing I scheduled on this problem. \u00a0 Further, the Justice Department, CMS and Mylan have failed to respond in full to my oversight letters. \u00a0This is unacceptable. \u00a0A new administration offers an opportunity to exert more oversight of government programs and tax dollars. \u00a0This agency\u2019s job is to deliver services to patients and get the most value from every tax dollar. \u00a0It has to carry out the programs and services enacted into law by Congress and the President. It ought to be responsive to Congress, the people\u2019s branch of government. \u00a0The EpiPen misclassification is a case study in what not to do. \u00a0I expressed these sentiments to Ms. Verma, and she agreed. \u00a0 I look forward to exploring these ideas further at her nomination hearing.\u201d \u00a0-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/epipen-misclassification-case-study-what-not-do-grassley-tells-cms-administrator"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0463972575962543, "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"}