New Bill Takes Aim at CMS’s National Coverage Determination Powers

  • Oct 13, 2022

    The FDA’s controversial accelerated approval of Biogen Inc.’s Aduhelm (aducanumab) has yielded new fallout, as members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a bill seeking to unwind CMS’s national coverage determination that limited access to the Alzheimer’s treatment — and prevent CMS from issuing restrictive NCD decisions on future drugs.  

    D.C. insiders tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the bipartisan bill’s fate will likely depend on the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections. They add that the NCD bill represents a renewed effort by the pharmaceutical industry to flex its lobbying muscle after it faced an unprecedented defeat with the passage of Medicare drug price negotiation as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

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  • Peter Johnson

    Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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