Wyden, Sanders blocked from attempt to pass stand-alone health package

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were blocked Friday from passing a package of health policies, including changes to the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry that was left out of December’s government spending bill.

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, attempted to pass the bipartisan legislation by unanimous consent. It was blocked by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who made no comments on the Senate floor as to his reasons.

The Hill has reached out to Scott’s office.

"We have reached a bipartisan conclusion to go forward, in a modest way, but it would have some impact in improving health care in America, and my Republican colleague objects. That's about it,” Sanders said on the Senate floor. “Well, I hope the American people are watching. “

Bipartisan health leaders in mid-December agreed on a sweeping health package that included PBM reforms, extensions of Medicare telehealth flexibilities, reauthorizations of legislation to prevent pandemics and address the opioid crisis, payments to community health centers, and a rollback of Medicare physician payment cuts.

But the overall funding bill it was attached to was torpedoed by GOP lawmakers, Elon Musk and then-President-elect Trump, who complained it was too lengthy and comprehensive.

Wyden said he tried to pass the bill as a stand-alone because it was too important to tie it to the appropriations process, where it has fallen victim to “an unrelated disagreement.”

"Community pharmacists are counting on this legislation. Doctors who don’t want to see a pay cut are counting on this legislation. Seniors and working families who want better care at a lower cost are counting on this legislation,” Wyden said. "This legislation is overwhelmingly bipartisan, fully paid for, and targeted at two objectives every senator should support: improving health care for Americans and cracking down on middlemen who are taking advantage of the system."

The package included reauthorizations of the opioid-fighting SUPPORT Act and the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act. The pandemic legislation had historically been bipartisan, but its initial inclusion in the spending bill late last year sparked a wave of online misinformation amplified by Musk.

Republicans have floated using some provisions from the package — most likely the PBM changes — to pay for some cost of their reconciliation legislation to extend President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and other priorities.

But Democrats do not want bipartisan issues included in a partisan reconciliation bill. They have said they would overwhelmingly approve a stand-alone bill with the same PBM changes and extension of other expiring health programs, if Republicans were willing to bring it up.

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