CMS Proposed Rule Lets Drugmakers Skirt Medicare Price Negotiations, Undermining Seniors' Savings
核心洞察
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (搜索) (CMS) released a proposed rule enabling drug companies to avoid Medicare price negotiations on top-selling drugs such as the cancer drug Darzalex.
Protect Our Care (搜索) Chair Leslie Dach stated the rule rips away relief from seniors and creates loopholes for corporations to "skirt negotiations and jack up drug prices."
Democrats' Medicare negotiation program saved seniors and taxpayers $6 billion this year and is projected to save another $12 billion next year on drugs for cancer, diabetes, and asthma.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (搜索) (CMS) released a proposed rule that will enable big drug companies to avoid Medicare price negotiations on top-selling drugs, such as the cancer drug Darzalex. The move, announced in Washington, D.C., comes as seniors across the country struggle to afford their prescriptions, and it is expected to cause seniors' drug prices to rise.
Protect Our Care (搜索) Chair Leslie Dach issued a sharply critical statement in response to the proposed rule:
"It should surprise no one that Trump, who made the largest health care cuts in history to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, is ripping away relief from thousands of seniors to pad the pockets of big drug companies. While Democrats took on the drug industry to secure fair prices and deliver billions in savings for seniors, Trump and Republicans are creating loopholes for these greedy corporations to skirt negotiations and jack up drug prices. Republicans have continually propped up scams like TrumpRx and so-called 'Most Favored Nation' pricing that do nothing to actually lower drug prices. This is an outright betrayal of the American people and it will not be forgotten."
Democrats' Record on Drug Price Negotiation
Four years after Democrats gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, the program has delivered measurable savings. Democrats' drug price negotiation program saved seniors and taxpayers $6 billion this year on high-cost drugs for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and autoimmune disease. The program is projected to save seniors and taxpayers another $12 billion next year on even more drugs for cancer, diabetes, and asthma.
Democrats also ensured that no one on Medicare will have to spend more than $2,100 a year out of pocket on drugs, and no more than $35 a month on insulin. Additionally, Democrats penalized big drug companies for price hikes to the tune of $1.3 billion, returning that money to seniors and taxpayers.
Trump and Republican Policies
The proposed rule is part of a broader pattern described by Protect Our Care (搜索). According to the organization, Trump helped big drug companies evade billions in taxes, escape tariffs, and exempt their top-selling products from drug price negotiations. Trump also hiked the cost of prescription drug coverage for millions, and thousands of seniors facing cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other life-threatening conditions will struggle to afford their prescriptions after losing negotiated prices.
Protect Our Care (搜索) further stated that not a single Republican voted to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and that Trump strongly opposed it. Drugmakers made $50 billion more in profits and hiked the cost of more than 750 drugs in Trump's first year back in office. The organization also noted that Trump eliminated the FDA office tasked with speeding approvals of cheaper generic drugs, and eliminated a program that would have allowed seniors to purchase generic drugs for just $2.
TrumpRx and Public Impact
A record high six in ten Americans reported worrying about being able to afford prescription drug costs three months after the launch of TrumpRx. The company that runs TrumpRx admitted in SEC filings that utilization of the website "appears to be incremental." Protect Our Care (搜索) characterized Trump's drug pricing announcements as "shams engineered to distract the public from his abysmal record while he quietly undermines Medicare drug price negotiation – the only tool saving seniors money."