A year ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. One of the law’s major promises was to give Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices to lower costs for the program, while making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors and other beneficiaries. This kind of negotiation happens in most other countries around the world is supported by 8 in 10 Americans. Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a list of selected prescription drugs for negotiation.
Now, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, up to 9 million Americans will be able to benefit from the new negotiated drug prices.
Here’s the list of targeted drugs:
Many of the medications up for negotiation treat some of the most common ailments facing Seniors such as diabetes, blood clots, cancer, and arthritis. Big Pharma has invested over $400 million in trying to block this from happening, using their record profits to pay for lawyers and lobbyists.
Meanwhile, every year millions of Americans are forced to choose between paying for medications and basic needs.
Today’s announcement is a major step forward, and just the beginning of the improvements to healthcare brought on by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. In addition to drug price negotiation, the effect of the law has already:
- Capped the out-of-pocket cost of Insulin at $35/month for 4 million seniors, including over 75,000 New Yorkers
- Saved 15 million Americans over $800/year on health insurance premiums
Want to know more about the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program? Check out this fact sheet from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and as always, follow Healthcare Education Project.
