A Florida woman shows some of the daily prescription medications that she needs and pays over $6,000 a year through a Medicare prescription drug plan. Negotiating Medicare drug prices is the linchpin of President Joe Biden's ambitious health care agenda.
“We pay more for our prescription drugs than any country,” Biden said Wednesday, marking the first anniversary of the law’s enactment. “For years, Big Pharma won. Big Pharma blocked us. But not this time.” Andrew Varcoe, the deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, called the negotiation process unconstitutional. He predicted other legal challenges could arise once the Biden administration finalizes its list of targeted drugs, which it plans to release before Sept. 1.
Soon after Democrats captured the House, Senate and White House in 2020, party lawmakers began devising legislation that might deliver on a longtime campaign promise to lower health-care costs. They settled on the Inflation Reduction Act, which granted powers to Medicare to negotiate the price of select medicines directly with pharmaceutical companies.
A number of other countries - including England, France and Germany - negotiate some drug prices on behalf of their citizens. In the United States, the Department of Veterans Affairs has similar powers to purchase medicine at negotiated rates, resulting in lower costs compared to Medicare, according to a recent federal report.
Last year, pharmaceutical companies and trade organizations spent $375 million in total lobbying, including their efforts to oppose the Inflation Reduction Act, according to records compiled by OpenSecrets, a money-in-politics watchdog. The figure does not include spending by PhRMA and its allies to attack Democrats who backed the law in television ads last year.
“It’s critically important that we have innovative drugs come to market,” she said, adding: “It’s not going to help us if there are incredible, innovative products on the market that people can’t get.” “There’s no question that the IRA has done some good things,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders , an architect of the law. “There is, I think, no serious debate that - given the enormous crises facing our broken health-care system - that we have an enormous way to go.”For now, the president has tried to promote some programs that have delivered savings to seniors.