Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, praised the Biden-Harris administration for negotiating lower drug prices for 10 prescription drugs in Medicare.
The drug prices were the subject to negotiations between the federal government and the drug companies that manufacture them, Wyden said Thursday, Aug. 15.
Medicare is the federal insurance program for people 65 and older, and for some with disabilities.
In a separate press release, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services claims that, if the new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion, or approximately 22%, across the 10 selected drugs.
The negotiated prices range from 38% to 79% discounts off of list prices, the centers claims. “About nine million people with Medicare use at least one of the 10 drugs selected for negotiation. People with Medicare prescription drug coverage are expected to see aggregated estimated savings of $1.5 billion in their personal out-of-pocket costs in 2026.”
Wyden praised the administration for making Medicare prescription prices a priority. “Today, Medicare has used the bargaining power of tens of millions of American seniors to fight Big Pharma for lower drug prices,” he said.
According to Wyden’s office, the 10 drugs in the negotiations are Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara and NovoLog.
Officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are expected to select up to 15 more drugs covered under Medicare Part D by Feb. 1, to negotiate prices that would take effect in 2027. The agency will select up to 15 more drugs covered by Part B or Part D for 2028, and up to 20 more Part B or Part D drugs for each year after that, as required by the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden in 2022.
Wyden said other price-centered impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act include:
- A $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs in Medicare Part D, beginning next January.
- A $35 monthly cap on insulin co-pays in Medicare.
- A “price-gouging penalty that saves money for seniors and taxpayers when drug companies raise prices faster than the rate of inflation,” Wyden said.
- No-cost vaccines for seniors in Medicare.
“These new, lower prices for prescription drugs in Medicare means seniors save money at the pharmacy counter and marks the first step in a seismic shift in the relationship between Big Pharma, taxpayers and seniors who need affordable prescription drugs,” Oregon’s senior senator said.
