Pallone Celebrates Next Round of Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
The Biden Administration Unveiled the List of the Next 15 Prescription Drug Prices to be Negotiated by Medicare
Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement after the Biden Administration unveiled the list of the next 15 prescription drug prices that will be negotiated by Medicare this year:
“Today’s list of 15 drugs builds on the progress we made with the first 10 drug prices that were negotiated last year. Taken together, these 25 drugs represent one third of all Medicare Part D spending. It is transformative progress that will lower costs for millions of seniors and save taxpayers billions of dollars. I challenge the incoming Trump Administration to try to negotiate a better deal.
“It is also good news for the American people that today’s list includes Ozempic and Wegovy, which the federal government spent over $7 billion on in 2023 alone and costs patients hundreds of dollars each month.
“Democrats stand ready to defend Medicare drug price negotiation against Republican repeal efforts or any attempts to undermine the benefits of the law. We successfully fought to lower costs for America’s seniors, and we will not allow Republicans to take us backward as a favor for their greedy corporate allies. Instead, Republicans should work with Democrats to build on Medicare drug price negotiation to save taxpayers’ money and make these new lower prices available to all Americans.”
Last year, the Biden Administration announced the new lower prices of the first 10 prescription drug prices negotiated by Medicare. American seniors are expected to save $1.5 billion on these drugs in the first year alone.
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. In 2023, Pallone introduced legislation to build on this progress by negotiating more drug prices sooner, making these lower prices available people with private health insurance, and extending inflation rebates to the commercial market.
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