Biden Administration Lists 10 Drugs Medicare Will Price Negotiate
Category: Medicare
August 29, 2023 — Fulfilling a campaign promise to help save Medicare by controlling excessive drug prices, the HHS announced a list of 10 popular drugs that Medicare will negotiate the prices. The historic move marks the first time that the U.S. government has taken the steps so many other countries have done to control runaway price gouging by the pharmaceutical industry. The ability to negotiation was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act. At least one survey shows drug negotiations are very popular with both Democrats and Republicans.
We suspect that many Topretirements Members use one or more of the 10 drugs on the list – some of which have extremely expensive copays.
Here are the 10:
1. Eliquis. Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer. Prevents strokes and blood clots.
2. Jardiance. Diabetes and heart failure drug. Produced by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly
3. Xarelto. Another frequently prescribed drug for preventing strokes and blood clots. Made by Johnson & Johnson
4. Januvia. Merck makes this drug to treat diabetes.
5. Farxiga. AstraZeneca’s chronic kidney disease drug.
6. Entresto. Heart failure drug from Novartis
7. Enbrel. From Amgen, it treats arthritis and other autoimmune conditions.
8. Imbruvica. AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson drug for blood cancers.
9. Stelara. Treats Crohn’s disease, from Johnson & Johnson
10. Fiasp and NovoLog. These insulin products for diabetes are made by Novo Nordisk.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services developed the list of drugs by prioritizing what drugs Medicare spends the most and looking at which drugs have no competition after being on the market for years. Drug companies can refuse to negotiate but might have to pay excise taxes and the drugs will not be available to Medicare and Medicaid recipients. Negotiated prices might not go into effect until 2026.
Comments on "Biden Administration Lists 10 Drugs Medicare Will Price Negotiate"
Mike says:
Why this is so important: https://www.levernews.com/big-pharmas-american-con/
Mike says:
I originally put this comment in an older post about the donut hole but it seems to fit better here.
Recently I have been seeing TV ads attacking the Medicare drug negotiation section of the Inflation Reduction Act. Terms used to mislead include “price setting schemes”, the bill doesn’t set prices it allows price negotiation and initially only for10 drugs starting in 2026 with another 10 added as the years go by. The ads say the “government” not your doctor will decide which medications you get, the same lie was used to oppose the Affordable Care Act years ago. The ads claims that Medicare is being “raided” for $287 billion so “liberals” can use it for other “big government programs” or to “pad big insurance profits” but the $287 billion is the amount that medicare will save over 10 years by lower prices. Of course the ads must scream “SOCIALISM” while ignoring the $230 billion in taxpayer funding provided to the pharmaceutical industry for every new drug approved between 2010-2019. In 2022 the taxpayer invested nearly $45 billion in private research.
Soon after the IRA was passed pharmaceutical companies threatened to sue over the drug negotiations, the lawsuits are now underway with claims of “extortion.” I have not heard that term used when commercial insurance companies negotiate prices, or when the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, Medicaid or the 340 B program negotiate prices, as they have done for years, resulting in reducing those agencies drug spending by nearly a quarter. One company has said they will slow down the production of drugs to lessen the time it would be eligible for price negotiations.
Meanwhile drug companies are making massive profits and spend more on stock buybacks than they do on research (same goes for advertising) and spent over $375 million on lobbying in 2022. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade association behind some of the ads spent $29,236,000 by itself in 2022. The payoff for that spending? We pay the highest prices for medications resulting in the highest profits for pharmaceutical companies in the world.
A recent study says:
U.S. sales of the 20 top-selling drugs worldwide totaled $101.1 billion while sales to the rest of the world totaled nearly $57 billion. In other words, the U.S. spent almost double what the rest of the world combined did on these top 20 drugs.
For 17 of the 20 top-selling drugs worldwide in 2020, pharmaceutical corporations made more money from U.S. sales than from sales to all other countries in the rest of the world combined.
For 11 of the 20 top-selling drugs worldwide, U.S. sales revenue was double revenue to the sales of the rest of the world or more.
11 of the 13 pharmaceutical companies selling these top drugs made more money in the United States from these drugs than they did in the rest of the world combined.