Among other things, the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act authorized the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate the prices of a number of costly prescription drugs. Back in August, CMS announced prices for the first ten drugs subject to price negotiation and, more recently, it announced the next 15. Jonathan Cohn reports for Huffington Post on the forces at work to undermine Medicare drug price negotiation.
Medicare drug price negotiation not only lowers federal spending on prescription drugs to the tune of billions of dollars, it should also save people with Medicare money, both in premiums for Medicare Part D and in copays. But, few people with Medicare appear to be aware of these cost-saving reforms, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. They are not yet benefiting from lower drug prices.
People won’t see savings from the 10 drugs in the first round of Medicare drug price negotiations until 2026. And, they won’t see savings for the next 15 drugs with negotiated drug prices until 2027. Those drugs are: Ozempic; Rybelsus; Wegovy; Trelegy Ellipta; Xtandi; Pomalyst; Ibrance; Ofev; Linzess; Calquence; Austedo; Austedo XR; Breo Ellipta; Tradjenta; Xifaxan; Vraylar; Janumet; Janumet XR; and, Otezla.
To date, prices for some diabetes and cancer drugs, as well as drugs that treat blood clots, have been negotiated. In addition, as of January 1 of this year, Medicare Part D includes an out-of-pocket cap of $2,000, which was also part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
It’s not clear yet whether Republicans in Congress will succeed at repealing these cost-savings provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. Many of them appear to want to do so, even though it would drive up prescription drug costs for older adults and people with disabilities, as well as increase Medicare spending.
Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation plan for the Trump Administration calls for repealing these provisions. And Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, the new chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is fully on board. Pharmaceutical companies will continue to innovate in a world with drug price negotiations. They must. But, hundreds of thousands more Americans will die needlessly without negotiated drug prices, as they won’t fill their prescriptions. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- How to avoid overpaying for your prescription drugs
- Medicare Part D plans can make it hard to get prescription drugs
- Medicare Part D drug costs: What to expect in 2025
- Don’t rely on Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs for the lowest prices
- Case study: Costco saves one couple hundreds of dollars over Medicare Part D
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