Pallone Celebrates First Round of Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today on the Biden-Harris Administration’s announcement on successfully negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices for the first time in the history of the program:

“This is a historic day. Democrats fought for over 20 years to empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors. Today we have finally achieved that goal.

“As a result of these negotiations, Americans are expected to save $1.5 billion in the first year alone. And this is just the beginning. Now that Medicare has the authority to negotiate, it will continue to negotiate lower prices on more drugs each year going forward. It is a gamechanger that will save American seniors’ hard-earned money for years to come.  

“While Republicans want to repeal this progress and allow Big Pharma to raise prices, Democrats are just getting started. We’re defending the progress we’ve made while continuing to fight to further lower prescription drug prices. We believe Medicare should be able to negotiate fair prices for more drugs each year and that these lower prices should be available to everyone – not just seniors. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to negotiate the maximum fair price of more drugs each year and make those negotiated prices available to Americans with private health insurance, which will be a top priority for House Democrats next year.”  

Pallone was a key author of the legislation empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices. He was the lead sponsor of H.R.3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which first passed the House in December 2019 and established the Medicare drug price negotiation framework that was eventually signed into law in August 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

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