Congress can save seniors’ access to medications before it’s too late
Seniors in nursing homes across the country depend on around-the-clock care and medications, perhaps more than any other American patient. In contrast, nursing homes and assisted living facilities that care for seniors rely on a small number of specialty long-term care (LTC) pharmacies to ensure their patients get the prescription medications they need.
But what would happen if basic LTC pharmacies suddenly disappeared? Nursing homes, unable to simply turn to retail pharmacies for the highly specialized services needed, would be out of compliance with federal law. Many long-term care facilities in rural areas will not have viable pharmacy alternatives, forcing them to close their doors and move patients away from their families.
Unfortunately, this is not a “what if” scenario. It is a looming American long-term care crisis, and Congress must act to avert it before it is too late.
As a Congresswoman who cares deeply about the physical and financial health of her constituents, I support policies to lower the cost of prescription drugs. However, recent policy changes included in former President Biden’s inflation-reducing law pose a serious — even if unintended — threat to LTC pharmacies and their patients. That’s why I sponsored the Preserving Patient Access to Long-Term Care Pharmacies Act to do something about it.
The unique impacts on LTC pharmacies were not considered in the Inflation Control Act’s authorization of Medicare to negotiate prices for certain prescription drugs. This is unfortunate because these essential LTC pharmacies provide medications to a group of very vulnerable patients who are almost entirely covered by Medicare Part D.
The result is that when Medicare’s new negotiated drug prices go into effect on January 1, 2026, LTC pharmacies will face significantly lower reimbursement rates on many drugs prescribed to older adults in long-term care. This will immediately create an unsustainable situation for LTC pharmacies across the country, forcing many to go out of business and leaving nursing homes and their patients without the essential services that only LTC pharmacies can provide.
Our aging population is increasing. Now is not the time to cut back on nursing home care and plunge America into a long-term care crisis. The bipartisan Preserving Patient Access to Long-Term Care Pharmacies Act would protect access to essential medications and pharmacy services for seniors and other long-term care residents in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and similar facilities. It will ensure that LTC pharmacies can continue to serve nursing homes and assist living residents by establishing temporary supply fees for negotiated Part D drugs.
This critical reform for LTC pharmacies, modeled after the current Medicare Part B program, would impose a temporary supply fee of $30 per prescription dispensed under Medicare negotiated rates in 2026 and 2027. This is the only way many LTC pharmacies will survive the next two years.
LTC Pharmacies are a lifeline for millions of seniors and their families. If we fail to act before January 1, 2026, many of these pharmacies will be forced to close their doors, leaving nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and vulnerable patients without the care they depend on. The Preserving Patient Access to Long-Term Care Pharmacies Act provides a critical solution now, before the crisis strikes, so seniors can continue to access the safe, reliable pharmacy services they deserve.
I am grateful to the many co-sponsors who have already signed on in support, and I encourage all of my fellow legislators to join me in this important effort and help get this life-saving legislation across the finish line before the end of 2025.
Beth Van Duyne represents Texas’ 24th District in Congress.
