On Wednesday the Senate cleared a bipartisan bill to advance medical cures, the biggest health care package to pass Congress since ObamaCare, reports The Hill.
Hailed by leaders from both sides of the aisle, the bill focuses on funding life-saving research, including nearly $2 billion for Vice President Biden’s cancer “moonshot” initiative. The President is expected to sign the measure quickly.
Other notable bill components include:
- Funding to address the nation’s growing opioid epidemic
- The largest changes to the mental health system in more than a decade
- Expanded access to addiction treatment programs
- Faster approval for breakthrough medical devices
- Reformed rules for clinical trials
- New incentives for drug companies to study rare diseases
- Greater focus on data to move toward personalized medicine
The bill began as a 400-page document in January 2015, and has undergone countless revisions with input from every corner of the health care sector.
The Hill describes the final bill as an ambitious mix of regulatory reform and a new research push for hard-to-treat diseases.
