August 29, 2023
10 specific prescription drug costs may soon get much cheaper for seniors on Medicare and American taxpayers who are responsible for picking up Medicare’s tab.
Here are the 10 drugs that will be negotiated by Medicare starting this year. They treat diabetes, cancer and other disorders and are taken by millions of older Americans. These specific drugs accounted for the highest Medicare spending — $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for seniors in 2022. And this negotiation program is expected to save American taxpayers an estimated $98.5 billion over the next decade.
The power to negotiate widely used, high priced drugs with no generic competition was given to Medicare by Congress when lawmakers passed the inflation reduction act last year. The law gives Medicare over the next four years – the power to negotiate prices for up to 60 drugs and up to an additional 20 drugs every year after that.
Two things are important to understand about these prescription costs. One – yes Medicare will start negotiating this year, but the price reductions won’t take effect until 2026. And two I told you in this video in June, big pharma is pissed about this – obviously — and has sued the federal government over this negotiation program saying it violates the drug companies first and fifth amendment rights. These lawsuits have not yet been settled.
White House information about the drugs selected here.
Medicare information about the negotiation program here.
Negotiation program savings from the CBO here.
