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House QALY Bill Overreach Threatens Medicare Price Negotiation Program, Democrats Warn

 
• By Cathy Kelly

Concern about disrupting the implementation of the negotiation program could presage a tough road for the legislation in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Bill Language Expected To Change Before Full House Vote • Source: Shutterstock

House legislation prohibiting the use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) as a cost effectiveness metric in federal health insurance programs needs to safeguard some cost effectiveness tools because otherwise it could undermine implementation of the Medicare price negotiation program, Democrats said during a markup of the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 24 March.

Despite Democrats’ concerns, the bill was shepherded through the committee by its lead author and committee chair, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Ore., and passed in a mainly party-line vote

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