The Senate Parliamentarian on Saturday ruled that Democrats must remove a provision aimed at prescription drug rebates from the $740 billion health care, climate, tax and spending package ahead of an expected showdown as the chamber takes up the bill over the weekend.
Elizabeth MacDonough, who has been working overtime to conduct a non-partisan scrub of the far-reaching legislation to ensure it meets the Senate’s complex budget reconciliation rules, said Democrats must remove provisions that force drugmakers to pay rebates for products they sell to private insurers if their prices exceed inflation.
Drug manufacturers would still have to pay penalties for those drugs bought by Medicare.