While we applaud Chairman Charles Grassley and Ranking Member Ron Wyden for reaching a bipartisan consensus on prescription drug price reform, we support adding language to the bill that will finally allow the government to directly negotiate drug prices in Medicare.
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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.
via The Hill.
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via twitter.
Related Reading:
Letter Urging Cosponsoring of “The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act”.
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.
Hill Democrats Get Tough on Big Pharma, Prescription Drug Prices.
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.
Prescription drug spending has risen rapidly over the past decades. Adjusted for inflation, per capita spending on retail Rx drugs increased from $90 in 1960 to $1,025 in 2017.
Related Reading:
Letter Urging Cosponsoring of “The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act”.
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.
Hill Democrats Get Tough on Big Pharma, Prescription Drug Prices.
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.
Whether Congress will act this year to address the affordability of prescription drugs — a high priority among voters — remains uncertain. But states aren’t waiting.
So far this year, 33 states have enacted a record 51 laws to address drug prices, affordability and access. That tops the previous record of 45 laws enacted in 28 states set just last year, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonprofit advocacy group that develops model legislation and promotes such laws.
Among the new measures are those that authorize importing prescription drugs, screen for excessive price increases by drug companies and establish oversight boards to set the prices states will pay for drugs.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
Medicare Must Be Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices.
People are dying — or their quality of life is poor — because high drug prices are forcing seniors to go without life-saving medications. It’s time to end pharma’s drug price gouging. It’s time to stop forcing seniors to cut their pills in half or skip a dose. That’s why the National Committee urges the Senate to approve legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Letter Supporting the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act.
High drug costs are burdening seniors and people with disabilities with excessive out-of-pocket expenses and straining the Medicare program’s finances. A recent study of 79 brand drugs without generic competition (and that accounted for the greatest spending on Medicare Part D) found that the U.S. pays 3 to 4 times more for these drugs than other countries do.
Some Medicare beneficiaries would face higher prescription drug costs under President Donald Trump’s budget even as the sickest patients save thousands of dollars, a complex trade-off that may make it harder to sell Congress on the plan in an election year.
In budget documents, the administration said its proposals strike a balance between improving the popular “Part D” prescription benefit for the 42 million seniors enrolled, while correcting design flaws that increase program costs for taxpayers. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is expected to testify on the proposal later this week in Congress.
Trump has made bringing down drug costs a top priority, but his administration’s plan would create winners and losers. The high cost of medicines is the leading health care concern among consumers.
Independent experts said the administration’s plan will help beneficiaries with the highest prescription drug costs, an estimated 1 million of the sickest patients, those whose individual bills reach a total of more than $8,418 apiece.
But about 4.5 million seniors in the group just behind them could end up spending more of their own money. That’s because the budget proposes a change in how Medicare accounts for manufacturer discounts received by patients whose total bills range between $3,750 and $8,418. They could wind up paying about $1,000 more.
via New York Times.
Related Reading:
President Trump released an FY 2019 budget today proposing deep spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and myriad other federal programs that help older Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.
- Some $500 billion in Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would affect providers and suppliers, but could potentially impact beneficiaries, too.
Democrats introduced legislation during the current Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices, but GOP leadership refused to consider these measures.
via twitter.
Related Reading:
Meeting the Demand for Lower Drug Prices in Medicare.
Three policy approaches to lowering drug costs that Congress is actively considering are: 1) allowing the government to negotiate directly with manufacturers in the Medicare Part D program, 2) placing inflationary spending caps on drugs, and 3) so-called reference pricing.
Hill Democrats Get Tough on Big Pharma, Prescription Drug Prices.
The Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which would peg the price of prescription drugs in the United States to the median price in five major countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan…
Medicare Must Be Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices.
People are dying — or their quality of life is poor — because high drug prices are forcing seniors to go without life-saving medications. It’s time to end pharma’s drug price gouging. It’s time to stop forcing seniors to cut their pills in half or skip a dose. That’s why the National Committee urges the Senate to approve legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.
via twitter.
High prescription drug costs is a crisis for some seniors in America. We see some seniors cutting pills in order to save money which can be fatal.
We are asking Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Sign our petition by clicking here.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put forward an aggressive plan allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of some prescription drugs that could also be applied in the commercial market.
Why it matters: Under any other GOP administration, this plan would be dead on arrival. But Washington is waiting to see whether President Trump bites — and can then browbeat other Republicans into voting for it.
Between the lines: The framework of the plan is very similar to the draft that recently leaked, with changes likely made to appease various factions within the Democratic caucus.
via Axios.
Related Reading:
Prescription Drug Prices a Top Priority for Congress After Summer Recess.
Most Congressional Democrats believe (and the National Committee agrees) that the Department of Health and Human Services must be allowed to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of Medicare.