Chairman Waxman Requests Information on Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program

Chairman Waxman sent a letter to the chief executives of twelve Medicare insurers requesting Part D prescription drug pricing information, including profits and administrative costs associated with Medicare Part D coverage.

Text of the letter:

The Committee will be conducting oversight of the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. We are writing to request information relevant to the Committee’s oversight efforts.

Specifically, we request that you provide the Committee with a copy of the information that your company, or its subsidiaries, was required to report as a Medicare prescription drug plan provider to the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for contract years 2006 and 2007 on the following topics: Medicare drug plan profits; Medicare drug plan administrative costs; negotiated price discounts, rebates, and other price concessions obtained from drug manufacturers and pharmacies by Medicare drug plans; and the extent to which, and the methods by which, these discounts, rebates, and other price concessions obtained by Medicare drug plans are passed on to beneficiaries. Your submission should include any information on these subjects that you were required to report under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, the regulations implementing the Act, and CMS’s Medicare Part D Reporting Requirements for Contract Years 2006 and 2007.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. An attachment to this letter provides additional information on how to respond to the Committee’s request.

We ask that you provide the requested materials no later than Friday, March 2, 2007. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Brian Cohen with the Committee staff at (202) 225-5420.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman

Chairman