PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Oct 13, 2009
Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to prescription drug plans, to limit the required co-payment or coinsurance for any one prescription to $200, and for all prescriptions in any month to $500.
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, to expand the formulary tier exception request process to allow Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a prescription drug plan to request an exception for a specialty prescription drug as a non-preferred prescription drug.
Requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to study and report to Congress on: (1) the prescription drug program under Medicare part D and the interaction of such program with Medicare beneficiary access to covered drugs under part B; and (2) cost-sharing for prescription drugs under Medicare parts B and D, including an analysis of the impact of eliminating cost-sharing for covered part D drugs for Medicare beneficiaries who incur annual out-of-pocket cost-sharing, after the initial coverage limit, that exceeds 5% of their income and who do not otherwise qualify for an income-related subsidy or other extra help or cost-sharing relief.
People & committees
Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [D-GA-4] · D–GA
Legislative record
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Referred to House Education and Labor
Referred to House Ways and Means
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to House Energy and Commerce
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Mar 23, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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