https://mailchi.mp/11f2d4aad100/the-weekly-gist-august-12-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

The $740B Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes significant reforms for Medicare’s drug benefits, including capping seniors’ out-of-pocket drug spending at $2,000 per year, and insulin at $35 per month. Medicare plans to fund these provisions by requiring rebates from manufacturers who increase drug prices faster than inflation, and through negotiating prices for a limited number of costly drugs. Drug prices are consistently a top issue for voters, but seniors won’t see most of these benefits until 2025 or beyond, well after this year’s midterms and the 2024 general election. 

The Gist: While this package allows Democrats to deliver on their campaign promise to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, the scope is more limited than previous proposals. Over the next decade, Medicare will only be able to negotiate prices for 20 drugs that lack competitors and have been on the market for several years.

Still, because much Medicare drug spending is concentrated on a few high-cost drugs, the Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will reduce Medicare spending by $100B over ten years. However, these negotiated rates and price caps don’t apply to the broader commercial market, and some experts are concerned this will lead manufacturers to raise prices on those consumers—creating yet another element of the cost-shifting which has been the hallmark of our nation’s healthcare system. 

The pharmaceutical industry also claims that this “government price setting” will hamper drug development (although there is limited to no evidence to support this proposition), signaling that they will likely spend the next several years trying to influence the rulemaking process as the new law is implemented.