August 26, 2024
Prescription drug costs.
$527. Now $113.
$556. Now $178.50.
$13,836. Now $4695.
You get a price reduction and you get a price reduction – but not everyone gets a price reduction…at least not yet.
But if you’re taking 10 specific medications for things like diabetes, arthritis or psoriasis and you’re on Medicare, as of 2026, the government says you’re going to be saving more than $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.
But – if you’re not on Medicare why would you even care? Well – because who do you think pays for Medicare and the prescription drugs for the recipients? You and me – the American taxpayer and these new savings according to the government are going to save all of us about $6 billion! So this story and what just happened impacts all of us.
So – if you didn’t know – one of the many things the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 did was for the first time ever gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices directly with the pharmaceutical companies who make these prescription drugs. Yeah – believe it or not up until recently – Medicare with its more than 60 million members – the largest customer of big pharma could not negotiate prices. They had to just take whatever price the pharmaceutical industry gave them and you better believe every single year – those prices for common medications were getting jacked up – I’m talking hundreds and thousands of dollars per person every single month! But in that law congress finally said – enough. These costs are getting out of control and costing taxpayers too much – it’s time to let Medicare throw its weight around and negotiate some lower prices. The law allowed for Medicare to select 10 drugs in the first round and then 15 more drugs in the next round, 15 more drugs in the next round and the up to 20 drugs in every round after that.
Of course the pharmaceutical industry was pissed, they sued, they lost, the kicked, they ultimately had to come to the table, they kicked and screamed some more…and finally they came to an agreement. Cutting prices anywhere from 38%-79% this is the list of the first 10 drugs that were negotiated. These prices represent the maximum Medicare will pay for these drugs and will kick in in 2026. Medicare says these drugs were selected because historically they have accounted for the highest total spending.
Read more from the White House here.
