United States: The Biden administration is set to release a law that will benefit the general public of the United States starting next year. According to the latest announcement, the federal law will allow the beneficiaries to save on dozens of medications by penalizing the pharmaceutical companies if they raise the price higher than the rate of inflation.
According to the update shared by the official with Medicare, a federal health program for adults aged 65 and above, the potential savings on the ‘Part B’ medication would be between US$1 and US$2,786 per dose. The plan will be effective from January 1 and will depend on the coverage of an individual.
It is to be noted that the part B medications include blood thinners, antibiotics, and cancer medications – administrated in clinics or hospitals, USA Today reported.
Medicare enrollees can save more than half on key medications!
Accordingly, Medicare enrollees will pay 20 percent co-insurance on the medications that are administrated by the doctor. However, the Biden-led administration has announced that the out-of-pocket expenses will be reduced by more than half for five drugs through inflation penalties.
While elaborating on the drugs that will be covered under the penalty, the official named the blood thinner argatroban, the chemotherapy drug bortezomib, and antibiotics cefepime, meropenem, and vancomycin.
What does President Joe Biden have to say?
The above announcement was made by President Joe Biden during an appearance at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Thursday. According to the reports, the inflation penalties come under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was launched by President Biden and is also known as climate and health law, which caps the drug prices by the drug companies in several ways.
Further, Biden was quoted saying, “It’s about giving folks just a little more breathing room,” flanked by doctors and scientists. He further stated, “For too long, Americans have paid more for prescription drugs than any advanced nation on Earth.”
It is the first time in history that federal law has empowered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate lower Medicare drug prices. The official update underlined that for now, the Biden administration has shared the names of around ten medications for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer drugs that will be negotiated under Medicare, which means that the price of those medicines will not increase until 2026.
It furthermore announced that within the span of the next two years, as many as 30 more drugs will be named for negotiated prices. The next selection will come into effect in 2027 and 2028.
How much will federal law contribute towards savings?
According to President Biden, the federal law, through price negotiations and other provisions, will save the federal health program US$160 billion over the next decade, according to the report by US Today.
Furthermore, he emphasized that Medicare enrollees will benefit from lower drug prices, including insulin, whose price has been capped at US$ 35 per month. President Biden was quoted saying, “This law is going to lower costs and will save lives” and will keep the public from having to “forgo drugs because they can’t afford them,” according to US Today.
Part D enrollees also get relief from soaring medication costs!
According to the reports by US Today, under federal law, pharmaceutical companies will be penalized for raising prices faster than the rate of inflation, more commonly for prescribed ‘Part D’ drugs – typically filled at the pharmacy or delivered by mail. It will begin in the year 2025 and will counter the companies whose Part D prices have crossed the inflation rate in 2022, 2023, and 2024, as per the reports.
This week, CMS also provided guidance that gave some benefits to drug companies producing drugs that are in short supply. For companies that are the sole source of a generic Part D drug and certain Part B and Part D medications, the penalties for inflation will be decreased by Medicare.
Several reports have mentioned that more than a dozen cancer drugs have faced shortages during this year. Accordingly, a shortage has been experienced for cisplatin and carboplatin – drugs used to treat gynecologic, testicular, bladder, breast, neck, head, and non-small-cell lung cancers. It is to be noted that the Food and Drug Administration also tried to help with the shortage by letting foreign drug makers bring in certain chemotherapy drugs for a limited time.
The deputy administrator at the CMS – Meena Seshamani, outlined that the revised guidance will discourage large price hikes, providing relief to drug companies that are dealing with shortages or disruptions in the supply chain.
According to the report by daily US Today, Seshamani said, “Our goal at CMS is to make sure drugs are more affordable and accessible, which includes helping to safeguard and ensure that the pharmaceutical supply chain can deliver critical medicines to providers and patients.”