The Biden administration on Thursday announced the list of 48 prescription drugs that will be subject to a mandatory Medicare rebate program, lowering out-of-pocket costs for seniors on some of the most expensive lifesaving pharmaceuticals.
"President Biden has taken on drug companies to get a better deal for the American people," White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden told reporters ahead of the announcement. "He's fought on this issue, and he's won."
INFLATION SLOWS TO 0.9% IN NOVEMBER IN PRODUCER PRICE INDEX
The Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act, requires pharmaceutical companies to pay a rebate to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services if they raise their prices beyond the rate of inflation.
The drugs announced on Thursday fall under Medicare Part B, which covers drugs administered by a healthcare professional in a facility. Many of the drugs include expensive infusion cancer treatments and antivirals. Patients treated with the selected drugs can directly receive a rebate, lowering beneficiary coinsurance by 20% of the inflation-adjusted payment amount.
Senior administration officials also told reporters that the program is indirectly affecting the prices of other drugs, as manufacturers want to steer clear of the forced-rebate program.
"Countless other seniors are benefiting from the fact that [pharmaceutical companies] will want to basically avoid the rebate itself," Tanden told reporters. "We're reducing prices across the board for people."
"Under President Biden's leadership and the historic provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, CMS is tackling the cost of prescription drugs and delivering meaningful savings to people across the country," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told reporters. "In less than 16 months, we've blazed the trail to transform how much people with Medicare pay for their prescriptions."
President Joe Biden has made the healthcare provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act a key pillar in his reelection campaign, highlighting the actions the administration has taken concerning lowering prescription drug prices.
Senior administration officials juxtaposed Biden's efforts at cutting pharmaceutical costs with Republicans in Congress seeking to overturn parts of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that by 2031, repealing the Medicare rebate program would cost seniors $5 billion per year and increase the federal deficit by $7 billion per year. Repealing the law would also "give away over $10 billion per year to pharmaceutical companies," according to senior administration officials.
Last week, the Biden administration announced that it would begin exercising the authority to seize patents for pharmaceutical products for which the creation was at least partially funded by federal government research dollars.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden has also continued to tout the cap on insulin costs for Medicare patients as well as the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program for the most expensive medications that fall under Medicare Part D coverage.
Later on Thursday, Biden is expected to deliver remarks at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Washington, D.C., to mark the occasion.