Fair Prescription Pricing Act of 2026

The bill is a constitutional exercise of the federal power to regulate interstate commerce and to tax. The regulation of cost sharing for prescription drugs directly affects the national market for health insurance and pharmaceuticals, which are commercial activities that necessarily cross state lines. Congress possesses the authority under the Commerce Clause to establish uniform standards for such economic transactions, and the Necessary and Proper Clause empowers it to adopt means that are plainly adapted to that end. The use of the nationwide average as a benchmark is a reasonable and unif…

The Constitution grants Congress only enumerated powers, not a general authority to regulate the price of medicines or the terms of private health insurance contracts. Such matters fall within the police powers reserved to the several States under the Tenth Amendment. A federal mandate to cap drug cost sharing based on a nationwide average exceeds the limited authority delegated to the Congress and treads upon the liberties of the people and the States to govern their own internal commerce.

This bill exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress under the Constitution. The regulation of drug pricing and cost-sharing arrangements between private insurers and consumers does not fall within the commerce power as originally understood, which was intended to regulate interstate trade, not direct the internal economic transactions of the states. The bill attempts to impose a uniform national price control on private contracts, which would undermine the federal balance by intruding upon the police powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment. Furthermore, such a measure would cre…

This bill regulates cost sharing for drugs by tying it to nationwide average consumer purchase prices. Such regulation falls within the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce, as the drug market and health insurance are national in scope. Under the Commerce Clause, Congress may prescribe rules for the conduct of commerce among the several states, and this measure is a legitimate means to ensure uniformity and fairness in that commerce. The Necessary and Proper Clause further authorizes Congress to enact laws that are appropriate to carry out its enumerated powers, and this bill is a…