Jul 23, 2019

Senators release bipartisan drug pricing bill

Sens. Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The Senate is ready to start moving forward with a bipartisan bill to lower the cost of prescription drugs, after Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a detailed outline of the proposal this morning. The Finance Committee will debate the bill Thursday.

What's next: The Senate package would redesign Medicare's drug benefit and allow new payment models in Medicaid, among other changes. And it puts drug prices squarely at the center of Congress' fall agenda: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's top health care aide said yesterday that House Democrats will introduce their own bill after the August recess.

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Sam Baker

Drug pricing to dominate fall agenda in Congress

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The pharmaceutical industry's lobbyists will really have to work for those millions once Congress comes back from its August recess.

Driving the news: Drug pricing will likely dominate the fall agenda in Congress.

Go deeperJul 24, 2019

Sam Baker

Trump's next move on lowering drug prices

Phot: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The White House is preparing another big executive order on drug prices, Reuters scooped last night.

The big picture: Citing industry sources who had discussed the plan with the administration, Reuters says that it would likely seek to lower prices in Medicare Part D, which covers drugs you pick up at the pharmacy counter. The administration's most sweeping proposal to date — to piggyback off of the lower prices in European countries — was limited to Part B, which covers drugs administered by a doctor.

Go deeperJul 26, 2019

Sam Baker

House Democrats' drug bill coming in September

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

House Democrats will release a bill on drug pricing in September, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's top health care aide, Wendell Primus, said yesterday at a Brookings event.

Details: Primus said the bill will focus on the most expensive drugs — primarily, those that have been on the market a long time and still don't have any competition.

Go deeperJul 23, 2019