Biden hails Medicare drug price negotiation as victory over Big Pharma.
President Biden Takes on Big Pharma in the Inflation Reduction Act
President Joe Biden is making a bold move to tackle the influence of Big Pharma in the healthcare industry. In a recent announcement, he revealed that the Inflation Reduction Act will introduce new price controls for 10 Medicare drugs. This is a significant step towards ensuring fair and affordable access to vital medications.
“We’ve been fighting Big Pharma for a long time,” Biden said Tuesday in celebrating the Drug Price Negotiation Program announcement. “We’re standing up to Big Pharma, and we’re not going to back down.”
The Impact of the Medicare Provision
The Medicare provision within the Inflation Reduction Act empowers the health and human services secretary to negotiate maximum fair prices with drug companies for Medicare Part D coverage. This applies specifically to expensive medications without generic or biologic alternatives.
Among the 10 selected drugs subject to new price controls are Eliquis and Jardiance, which alone accounted for $50.5 billion in Medicare Part D spending between June 2022 and May 2023. This represents approximately 20% of the total Part D gross covered prescription drug costs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The finalized maximum fair prices will be implemented in the market by 2026, following the completion of the first round of negotiations by September 2024.
Expanding Negotiation Power
Biden emphasized that the Medicare negotiation process is not unprecedented. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense already have the authority to negotiate medication prices for their respective programs. By extending this power to Medicare, the administration aims to ensure fair pricing for all Americans.
Neera Tanden, White House domestic policy adviser, expressed confidence in the program’s impact, stating that it will provide “more cost savings to American families” and make a real difference in their lives.
Protecting the Program’s Future
Concerns have been raised about the potential rollback of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program if Republicans were to win the 2024 election. However, Tanden reassured the public that the program enjoys widespread popularity and that people would strongly oppose any attempts to undermine it.
It is worth noting that the president’s announcement did not address the concerns of industry leaders who fear that these price controls may hinder innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.
Click here to read more from The Washington Examiner.
“While the president gleefully celebrates announcing the first 10 drugs forced into his socialist price-setting scheme, Americans are already seeing fewer potentially lifesaving cures and treatments,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said.
“The partisan law’s sweeping price-setting program ignores economic realities, and its implementation process has already begun to erode new drug development, including for cancer therapies and rare disease medications,” added Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
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