Tuesday, 12/10/2019, under the cover of impeachment inquiries, Sen Bill Cassidy, MD introduced S. 2999, the Primary Care Enhancement Act. This is the companion bill to HR 3708, allowing HSAs to pay for DPC, with one line stricken from the House version HR3708. That stricken line would have greatly limited access to affordable medications for millions of Americans that seek care in DPC practices.
DPC Action vigorously pushed back against this provision. While we appreciate the acknowledgement that HR3708 restricted access to affordable medications, we still have grave concerns over the irreversible impact of these bills on the independent DPC practices. Notwithstanding the affordable medication exclusion rescission, the underlying bill language has not changed and the position of DPC Action remains that HR3708 / S2999 are detrimental to the independent DPC practices.
We sincerely appreciate the effort that goes into the process and are very thankful for all the lawmakers that are attempting to support DPC. However, this remains a situation where the status quo is better than bad legislation. For those that want to read specifics, our analysis remains here: