Senators Grassley, Brown Urge CMS to Maintain 'Six Protected Classes'

On June 30, 2016, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio wrote a letter urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to maintain current policy requiring that Medicare prescription drug plans carry six categories of prescription drugs offered to participating beneficiaries. Senators Grassley and Brown, the sponsors of legislation requiring the maintenance of the “six protected classes,” contend that the policy is meant to “safeguard access to lifesaving medicines for vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries who rely on these classes of prescription drugs to protect them from potential challenges associated with any interruption of therapy.” The Senators go on to note that “MedPAC acknowledges ‘the degree to which plans could achieve potential savings is unclear.’ Regardless of potential savings, we maintain serious concerns with MedPAC’s recent proposal and urge CMS to maintain the six protected classes policy as it currently exists.”

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