Reps. Golden, Carter, Westerman, Ruppersberger Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Protect Patient Access to Their Medication Information

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) introduced the Patients’ Right to Know Their Medication Act of 2023 last week to ensure that rural Americans and seniors have access to important information about their prescription medications and to protect the jobs of hardworking Mainers.

“Many rural Mainers and seniors don’t have reliable access to the internet or aren’t comfortable using it to get important information about their prescription medications,” said Congressman Golden.“Our bipartisan bill requires information about medications to be printed, ensuring that every American who relies on a prescription has all the information they need to take it safely when they leave the pharmacy. This commonsense bill also would support hundreds of good jobs in Madawaska and our state’s forest products industry.” 

Pharmacies often provide printed medication information for patients, however they are not required to do so under current law. As a result, some patients never receive important information on the safety, dosage, and other details of their prescriptions with important health consequences. Printed information is particularly important in rural areas where internet access is often unreliable and for senior populations who don’t regularly use computers. 

The introduction of this bill also marks another step in the fight to protect the hundreds of good-paying Maine jobs at the Twin Rivers Paper Company’s Madawaska Paper Mill. In 2021, Golden successfully worked to defeat an amendment backed by the pharmaceutical lobby that would have required prescription drug manufacturers to distribute information electronically rather than include a paper insert. Twin Rivers Paper in Madawaska is the leading manufacturer of the paper inserts and employs over 500 people. 

Reps. Buddy Carter (GA-01), Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02), and Bruce Westerman (AR-04) joined Golden to introduce the bill.

A copy of the bill can be found here. 

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