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President Trump will lay out on Friday a broad strategy to reduce prescription drug prices, but in a break from one of his most popular campaign promises, he will not call for Medicare to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers, senior administration officials said.
The White House will issue a blueprint that represents “the most comprehensive plan to tackle prescription drug affordability of any president,” a senior official told journalists on Thursday night.
Asked if the plan would include direct negotiations by Medicare, the official said, “No, we are talking about something different.”
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
Allowing the federal government to negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices and restoring discounts for low-income beneficiaries make sense because these proposals save money without shifting costs to beneficiaries and have broad public support.
Who’s to blame for high health care costs? More than half of those with employer insurance say pharmaceutical and health insurance companies deserve “a lot of blame.”
Senator Klobuchar insisted that by allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices for Medicare, costs would eventually fall for patients of all ages. Klobuchar has introduced legislation in the Senate to lift the ban on Medicare negotiating with Big Pharma. The bill already has more than 30 cosponsors, but cannot pass without Republican support.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
Medicare spent $97 billion on prescription drugs in 2014, accounting for
more than a quarter of the nation’s spending on prescription medicines.
Those numbers are expected to continue rising in coming years, as
spending on the Part D benefit accelerates. Policymakers have put a
number of proposals on the table to reduce the growth in Medicare drug
spending and costs for beneficiaries, including a controversial proposal
that would change the way Medicare pays for Part B drugs administered
by doctors.
National polls show that most Americans, across party lines, support allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies as a way to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
We support Congressman Doggett’s bill because it would allow the Secretary of Health & Human Services to directly negotiate prices for prescription drugs and issue a competitive license allowing other manufacturers to produce the drug for Medicare in the event negotiations fail.
Last week, Democrats introduced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. This week, the new chairman of a key House committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), announced an investigation into skyrocketing drug costs.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is working on a bipartisan plan to cap seniors’ expenses for prescription drugs in Medicare as part of a broader effort to lower drug prices.
Grassley told The Hill on Wednesday that one idea he is working on with Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the panel, is “some sort of maximum amount that one person would have to pay” for drugs.
We support Congressman Doggett’s bill because it would allow the Secretary of Health & Human Services to directly negotiate prices for prescription drugs and issue a competitive license allowing other manufacturers to produce the drug for Medicare in the event negotiations fail.
Last week, Democrats introduced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. This week, the new chairman of a key House committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), announced an investigation into skyrocketing drug costs.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who says he is still considering a second presidential run in 2020, is teaming up with Democratic leaders in the House to put forward a series of bills that address one of the most talked about issues among voters: the rising cost of prescription drugs.
National polls show that most Americans, across party lines, support allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies as a way to bring down the cost of prescription drugs…
…CBO has said that price negotiation could lower the cost of drugs that lack competition. Private Part D plans currently have no leverage to negotiate for lower prices when a drug has no competitor.
At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
The Republican healthcare bill
would have gutted Medicaid, weakened Medicare, and allowed insurers to
charge older Americans up to five times as much as young adults, among
other travesties.
