NCPA on Passage of Senate Health Reform Bill: Positive Pharmacy Provisions Included

Alexandria, Va. - December 24, 2009 The U.S. Senate has passed its health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It has to be reconciled with the House's version of the bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, which passed in early November. Several provisions affect the nation's nearly 23,000 community pharmacies and the millions of patients they serve. In response, Bruce T. Roberts, RPh, president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) issued the following statement:
"We appreciate that both chambers of Congress have attempted to restore some of these cuts. We prefer the Senate language in general because it would help assure that pharmacies would be paid more adequately, and has other important changes we believe are critical to assuring Medicaid patients access to community pharmacies. We implore the negotiators to, at a minimum, adopt the Senate version. More Information