Medicare carves out urological supplies from price competition for 5 years
H.R. 10787 — Access to Medical Supplies Act · Filed by Gregory Murphy (R-NC) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill exempts urological and ostomy supplies from Medicare's competitive bidding program for 5 years (2028–2033), requiring instead a technical expert panel to study how these supplies should be acquired and a 12-month demonstration project in up to 3 states before any competitive bidding resumes. It also prohibits suppliers from pressuring patients to switch brands and guarantees patients can continue using the same products their doctors prescribed.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a 5-year exemption from price competition for a specific medical product category, paired with procedural safeguards (expert panel, demonstration project, anti-coercion rules) designed to protect patient access. The framing emphasizes patient welfare, but the operative effect is a price-protection mechanism for suppliers.
What the text implies
- The 5-year exemption freezes competitive pricing for urological/ostomy supplies, potentially locking in higher reimbursement rates while the expert panel and demonstration project study alternatives—delaying cost containment.
- The bill requires Medicare to ensure patients can access 'brand name' products selected by physicians, which may entrench supplier market share and reduce incentives for generic or lower-cost alternatives.
- The demonstration project is limited to 3 states and 12 months, creating a narrow evidence base that may not support broader policy conclusions about competitive bidding's impact on access or outcomes.
- The anti-coercion provisions (§5(i)) prohibit suppliers from offering information about alternative brands 'where the individual has not requested such information,' which may restrict patient autonomy and price transparency.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Patients gain continuity of care and physician choice, avoiding forced switches to unfamiliar medical supplies that could harm health outcomes. However, the 5-year exemption from competitive bidding may preserve higher Medicare prices for these supplies, shifting costs to taxpayers and other beneficiaries without demonstrated cost-benefit analysis.
Who stands to gain
- urological and ostomy supply manufacturers and distributors
- contract suppliers in the Medicare competitive acquisition program
Named in the bill
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Social Security Act § 1847, Medicare program, urological and ostomy supply manufacturers, contract suppliers
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Oct 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,373 characters) on Oct 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Medicare carves out urological supplies from price competition for 5 years” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10787 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.