Price Increases Continue to Outpace Inflation for Many Medicare Part D Drugs

(Juliette Cubanski and Tricia Neuman for Kaiser Family Foundation published February 4, 2021)

In response to strong public support for the government to address rising prescription drug prices, President Biden endorsed several proposals during his campaign, including limiting drug price increases to no more than the rate of inflation – limits that would apply to both Medicare and a new public option. During the 116th Congress, both the House of Representatives and Senate Finance Committee adopted proposals to limit annual increases in drug prices to the rate of inflation, although neither proposal was brought up for a floor vote in the Senate. The House-passed bill (H.R. 3) would have required drug manufacturers to pay a rebate to the federal government if their prices for drugs covered under Medicare Part B and Part D increased faster than the rate of inflation. A similar proposal garnered a majority of votes in the Senate Finance Committee, which was chaired at the time by GOP Senator Chuck Grassley. The Medicaid program already has a similar policy in place. With President Biden in the White House and Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress, inflation-based limits on drug price increases might have somewhat better prospects in the 117th Congress.  Continue reading here…

Notice: The link provided above connects readers to the full content of the posted article. The URL (internet address) for this link is valid on the posted date; medicarereport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the link’s validity. Also, the opinions expressed in these postings are the viewpoints of the original source and are not explicitly endorsed by AMAC, Inc.; the AMAC Foundation, Inc.; or medicarereport.org