By 2018, with an estimated 10% annual rate increase, the average family of three would have to make $29,000 more per year for the cheapest Affordable Care Act plan to be deemed "affordable" by the law's definition, according to a recent study by eHealth, a private online health insurance exchange.
Why it matters: President Trump has threatened to "let Obamacare implode" in the face of the failure of several repeal and replace efforts by Republican lawmakers, and these hikes would affect a large portion of the middle and working class of Trump's base. He has also threatened to stop paying the law's cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies, which would make premiums shoot up even more.
AbbVie and Amgen have agreed to a deal in which Amgen won't start selling Amjevita, a cheaper alternative to Abbvie's blockbuster drug Humira, in the U.S. until 2023. All litigation between the two firms over the drugs also will be dropped, the drug companies said Thursday.
Why it matters: Humira is the top-selling drug in the world. The settlement grants AbbVie another five-plus years of monopoly pricing in the lucrative U.S. market, where drug costs continue to rankle the public. AbbVie released a statement this week saying it will "act responsibly with respect to drug pricing" even though executives recently told investment bankers they may go back to large, multiple price hikes per year.
Correction: AbbVie is granting a license to Amgen, not making payments. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed.
