Washington, D.C.- Statement from Margarida Jorge, Executive Director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN) in response to today’s announcement about lower negotiated prices for 10 of the most expensive and widely prescribed prescription medicines in Medicare:
“As the Inflation Reduction Act turns two this week, today’s news about lowered prices through Medicare negotiations gives patients, providers and taxpayers alike something big to celebrate.
Millions of patients will save between 38 and 79% on 10 of the most widely used and expensive prescriptions in Medicare after years of price hikes and prescription drug corporation price-gouging. These ten drugs are among those with highest total spending in Medicare Part D. When the negotiated prices go into effect in 2026, people enrolled in Medicare Part D are estimated to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs. Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone.
And this is just the beginning. More drugs will be selected each year as part of Medicare’s drug price negotiation program which will save patients and taxpayers even more money over the coming decade and make medicines more accessible for seniors and people with disabilities. Medicare will select up to 15 additional drugs covered under Part D for negotiation in 2025, up to an additional 15 Part B and D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.
Lawmakers have the opportunity to build on this success and spread reforms wider so that people of all ages can benefit. President Biden has proposed to increase the number of drugs in Medicare should have negotiated prices. Some Democrats in Congress propose extending the new, lower prices to the commercial market so that people with private insurance who don’t yet qualify for Medicare can also get lower drug prices. A new study shows that over 3.4 million people with private insurance take at least one of the ten drugs with a lowered negotiated price in Medicare.”
