Opioids bill threatens Medicare, groups say

WASHINGTON — Consumer and health care groups are scrambling to block what they say is a move by the pharmaceutical industry to commandeer must-pass opioids epidemic legislation as a vehicle for rolling back drugmaker discounts to Medicare beneficiaries with high prescription costs.

The House and Senate are working on legislation to combat the opioids epidemic by focusing on treatment, recovery, prevention and law enforcement. The latest House version is expected to be unveiled early next week.

Details of the potential Medicare component were shifting, but basically it would partially roll back a 70 percent discount that Congress recently required drugmakers to provide to seniors in Medicare’s “doughnut hole” coverage gap. Backers of the rollback say lawmakers set that percentage too high. The Medicare doughnut hole coverage gap begins when a patient reaches $3,750 in drug costs.

Such nuances seemed to be getting lost in the building outcry against the deal, joined Friday by AARP.

“AARP strongly opposes … attempts to cut a backroom deal with Congress and reverse the Medicare Part D doughnut hole improvements enacted earlier this year that put drug makers on the hook for a higher share of Medicare drug costs,” vice president Nancy LeaMond said in a statement.

It remained unclear if the Medicare rollback would make the final legislation.