Last year started and ended with inflation as a high priority issue for Americans. An example of this remains the high cost of drugs. Last month, the Biden Administration identified 48 Medicare Part B drugs having risen in price faster than inflation, and some drug companies raised prices of certain medications faster than inflation for every quarter of the past year.
"They're ripping off Medicare. They're ripping off the American people," President Biden said at the National Institute of Health. "We're going to save taxpayers money and discourage companies from raising prices in the first place."
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President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act aims to assist with these price increases, requiring companies to pay rebates back to Medicare, saving seniors who take these drugs between $1 and $2,786 per dose on their medication.
Starting in January, some Medicare patients who receive the 48 selected drugs could have lower coinsurance than what they would have paid otherwise, the White House said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rolled out its list of the 48 price-hike offenders, which includes both generic and brand name drugs. Prices of some drugs such as Signifor, used to treat an endocrine disorder, have risen faster than inflation every quarter since the IRA's rebate provision came into effect, according to the White House.
Other notable drugs on the list include Novartis' lymphoma and leukemia CAR-T Kymriah and Amgen's osteoporosis med Prolia.
President Biden also vowed to lower prescription drug costs for seniors and families. His Inflation Reduction Act:
- allows Medicare to directly negotiate lower prescription drug prices,
- capped the cost of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries at $35,
- made recommended adult vaccines free,
- requires drug companies to pay rebates if they raise prices faster than the rate of inflation, and
- locked in savings of $800 per year on health insurance for nearly 15 million Americans.
It has also been reported that the IRA aims to save $25 billion annually by 2031 by requiring drugmakers to negotiate the prices of selected expensive drugs with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service, which oversees Medicare.
Last month the Biden administration also announced it would create guidelines for when and how it could seize patents for medicines developed with government funding, including considering when their prices are too high. The proposal would promote the federal government's ability to license a patent — such as those used to create life-saving drugs — to a competitor with the goal of increasing competition and bringing costs down for families.
Related: Drugmakers – Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, more – will raise 500 drug prices in January
Health and Human Services also announced that the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is making fair pricing a standard part of contract negotiations for medical products developed or purchased.
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