PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 2, 2004
Right Prescription for Seniors Act of 2004 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to a Medicare administered prescription drug plan option.
Repeals provisions prohibiting the Secretary from interfering with the negotiations between drug manufacturers and pharmacies and prescription drug plan sponsors and from requiring a particular formulary or instituting a price structure for the reimbursement of covered part D drugs.
Grants the Secretary the authority similar to that of other Federal entities that purchase prescription drugs in bulk to negotiate contracts with manufacturers of covered part D drugs, consistent with the requirements and in furtherance of the goals of providing quality care and containing costs. Requires the Secretary to use such authority to negotiate the prices of such drugs under prescription drug plans offered by PDP sponsors.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Amends the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary to promulgate regulations allowing qualifying individuals to import covered products (in addition to pharmacists and wholesalers, whom current law authorizes to import such products).
States that the Secretary shall not have to store records in cases in which qualifying individuals have imported a covered product.
Amends provisions regarding the importation of covered products, repealing the mandate that the Secretary require that a foreign seller specify the original source of the product and the amount of each lot of the product originally received.
Amends provisions regarding the testing of imported covered products. Declares that specified tests, including ones involving authenticity and degradation of products, shall not be required unless the importer is a wholesaler. Requires such tests to be conducted by the importer unless a product is a prescription drug subject to requirements for counterfeit-resistant packaging. (Currently either the importer or the manufacturer may conduct such tests).
Eliminates the sunset date current law establishes for the provisions pertaining to the importation of covered products (thus making such provisions permanent).
Limits prescription drug benefits for Members of Congress.
People & committees
Sen. Dayton, Mark [D-MN] · D–MN
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Aug 18, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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