Bill delays Medicare price talks for brand-name biologic drugs two years.
S. 5571 — Biosimilars Access and Affordability Act · Filed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 28, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill stops Medicare from negotiating prices on brand-name biologic drugs. This happens if a company says it is making a cheaper copy. The government waits up to two years after the announcement. If no cheaper copy comes to market within two years, price talks can start. The company that announced the copy must pay money back for the delay.
Who it affects
People on Medicare will pay higher prices for brand-name biologic drugs during the wait. The federal government will also pay more. Drug makers and companies working on cheaper copies are affected.
One thing to notice
A drug company can delay Medicare price talks by saying it plans to make a cheaper copy. If the cheaper copy never comes out, the brand-name drug maker gets two extra years of higher prices.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Sep 28, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 28, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- biologic drugs — Medicines made from living cells or organisms, not chemicals.
- Medicare — The federal government's health insurance program for people age 65 and older.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (11,354 characters) on Oct 6, 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.
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