{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/house-passes-two-mccaskill-bills-to-eliminate-pharmacy-gag-clauses-bipartisan-proposals-head-to-presidents-desk", "House Passes Two McCaskill Bills to Eliminate Pharmacy \u2018Gag Clauses,\u2019 Bipartisan Proposals Head to President\u2019s Desk", "2018-09-26", "2018", "2018-09", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "House Passes Two McCaskill Bills to Eliminate Pharmacy Gag Clauses,' Bipartisan Proposals Head to President's Desk \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senator's bipartisan proposals will prevent Missourians from paying more than needed on prescription drugs \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, September 26, 2018\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON  Following Senate passage of U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill's bipartisan proposals to put an end to pharmacy gag clauses that can sometimes prohibit pharmacists from telling customers that they could pay less for their prescription if they pay out of pocket, the U.S. House of Representatives passed both pieces of legislation Tuesday, sending the bills to the President's desk for signature.\r\nThis bipartisan effort will help lower out of pocket costs for Missourians, and I'm proud it's on the way to be signed into law, McCaskill said. With prescription drug costs skyrocketing out of control, we need to be doing all that we can to lower costs in every way possible, and this is an important step in that fight.\r\nBoth chambers of Congress have now passed McCaskill'sPatient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, which prohibits gag clauses in individual market and group-based insurance plans, and the Know the Lowest Price Act, which prohibits gag clauses in Medicare Part D. When signed into law by the President, both bills will give Missourians wide-ranging protections from this practice.\r\nContinuing her work to bring down medical costs for Missourians, McCaskill released a draft bipartisan plan last week to help protect patients from surprise medical bills. The draft bill comes from the bipartisan Senate healthcare price transparency working group, of which McCaskill is a member, and is intended to jumpstart discussions in Congress about how to best stop the use of balance billinga practice where healthcare providers bill patients the difference between what insurance companies pay and what healthcare providers chargewhich can be staggering amounts, especially if the provider is outside of the insurance company's network.\r\nMcCaskill has made tackling rising healthcare and prescription drug costs a top priority in the Senate.Last month, shereleased an investigative reportthat showed that drug prices directly negotiated by the government could save the Medicare Part D program $2.8 billion in a single year on the 20 most commonly prescribed brand-name drugs alone.During her time as the top Democrat on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, McCaskill joined Republican Chairman Susan Collins to launch anin-depth investigation into prescription drug price increases, and last year, President Trump signed into law the Senators'bipartisan legislationto increase competition for generic drugs and help lower prescription costs.\r\nVisit mccaskill.senate.gov/healthcare to learn more about McCaskill's fight to improve healthcare for Missourians.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 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.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/house-passes-two-mccaskill-bills-to-eliminate-pharmacy-gag-clauses-bipartisan-proposals-head-to-presidents-desk"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3649419415742159, "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"}