Exclusive: Dems seek to expand drug price negotiations
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Top House Democrats on Thursday are due to unveil a plan to expand Medicare drug price negotiations in a bid to lower health costs.
Why it matters: The measure has no chance of being passed in this Congress, but it serves as a marker of where Democrats could go if they flip control of the House in the midterms.
What's inside: The measure from Reps. Frank Pallone (N.J.), Richard Neal (Mass.) and Bobby Scott (Va.), the top Democrats on the three House committees that handle health care, would increase the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate from 20 to 50 each year.
- It would notably extend the prices that the government negotiates with drugmakers beyond Medicare to the private insurance market.
- The plan would similarly extend the Inflation Reduction Act's $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket drug costs and $35 per month cap on insulin costs to people with private insurance.
- It would undo a provision in Republicans' budget law this year that exempted more "orphan" drugs for rare diseases from Medicare drug price negotiation.
- In a nod to President Trump's efforts to address international pricing parity, the bill would also require the health secretary to consider the price of a drug in other developed countries while negotiating the U.S. price.
What they're saying: "Democrats gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices, but there's more that we can do to lower more prices sooner," Pallone said in a statement.
- The move to expand on the Inflation Reduction Act comes as Trump has sought to put his own stamp on drug pricing with a string of deals with pharmaceutical companies, as well as a new direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx.
- Democrats largely dismiss those efforts as gimmicks and say they are taking concrete legislative steps to lower prices.
- "It's time for Republicans to stop playing games and start working with Democrats to build on the progress of Medicare price negotiation," Pallone said.
