On March 3, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Minority Whip, expressed his intent in a Senate floor speech to introduce legislation titled the Commission on America’s Medical Security Act. The legislation would assess the dependence of the United States, including public and private payers and federal agencies, on medical products sourced from foreign countries, trigger the development and implementation of an action plan to spur domestic manufacture of medical equipment and therapies, and ensure their adequate supply. It also requires a report to Congress on these efforts.
Many observers believe recent activity related to the coronavirus and other incidents has exposed vulnerabilities in the US supply chain with an estimated 72 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients produced in foreign countries. In a 2017 study, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) indicated that roughly 35 to 40 percent of medical device technology in the United States was imported from other countries, and an additional study notes that China accounted for the fourth largest exporter of medical device technology to the United States in 2018, all facts indicating that medical device access may be adversely affected should operations in foreign countries stall or cease. Sen. Durbin’s legislation represents an initial attempt to gather more data and harden U.S. domestic medical product production against shortages by increasing the domestic market. The legislation has not yet been formally introduced.
