What You Need to Know About Medicare Price Negotiations
The Biden administration has announced the first ten prescription drugs that will be negotiated for lower prices between manufacturers and Medicare, in an effort to make expensive medications more affordable for older Americans. Medicare has been given the power to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers, the first time this has occurred in the nearly 60-year history of the federal program, through President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act which passed last year. The initial round of agreed-upon prices is set to go into effect in 2026.
Here are the 10 drugs subject to the initial talks this year:
• Eliquis, made by $Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY.US$, is used to prevent blood clotting, to reduce the risk of stroke.
• Jardiance, made by Boehringer Ingelheim, is used to lower blood sugar for people with Type 2 diabetes.
• Xarelto, made by $Johnson & Johnson(JNJ.US$, is used to prevent blood clotting, to reduce the risk of stroke.
• Januvia, made by $Merck & Co(MRK.US$, is used to lower blood sugar for people with Type 2 diabetes.
• Stelara, made by Janssen, is used to treat Crohn's disease.
The initial list of ten prescription drugs that will be subject to these negotiations account for $50.5 billion or about 20% of total Part D prescription drug costs. The pharmaceutical industry views the new process as a threat to profits and drug innovation, and several pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Astellas Pharma, along with lobbying organizations like PhRMA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have filed lawsuits against the Medicare negotiation process, alleging the talks are unconstitutional. However, the new initiative is viewed positively by Democrats in Congress and consumer advocates who have long pushed for lower drug prices.
Drugmakers must sign agreements to participate in the Biden administration's Medicare negotiations by Oct. 1, with initial price offers made in February 2024 and negotiations ending in August 2024. If a manufacturer declines to negotiate, it will face an excise tax of up to 95% of its medication's U.S. sales or risk having all products removed from Medicare and Medicaid markets. The talks are expected to save Medicare approximately $98.5 billion over a decade and reduce out-of-pocket costs for enrollees who take an average of four to five prescription drugs per month. Negotiations will expand each year, with up to 60 drugs potentially negotiated by 2029.
This is just going to put more money back in the pockets of millions of Americans," Biden said.
Source: CNBC
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
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Abhi347 : That’s the right thing to do!
70205595 : Shut up Joe you Fake President I don't take orders from Tyrants. As far as I am concerned America has no leadership.
70205595 : Democrats are all talk but when it comes to results they always fail. Every issue today is due to the Democrats and their racist,lawless violent supporters.
Dudebuddy : wasn't this something Trump started working on 3 years ago??
tidy Penguin_5919 : BIDEN IS A POS!!!! HE DOESN'T KNOW HIS NAME!!!
70205595 Dudebuddy: How could he work when the Neo Liberal facist set him up around every corner and fought him every inch of the way.
Yon Dudebuddy: Trump did, Medicare beneficiaries access to a broad set of insulins at a maximum $35 copay for a month’s supply. Upon taking office, joke biden scrapped it, just like the oil pipeline.
DzDivz : That's not a negotiation, it's extortion!
71598398 : Biden is doing for us, not just letting the rich man rob us all
DudeThatsDerpy : It's amazing that this is happening, but also explains why most of these companies dipped today.
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