Americans have paid more and more for prescription drugs for too many decades. Meanwhile, Big Pharma's profits have sky-rocketed. As part of the Inflation Reduction Act which was signed into law nearly two years ago, lowering the costs of prescription drugs was one of President Biden’s goals. According to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, over 750,000 people on Medicare will see a price drop starting in July for 64 medications. For example, some of these drugs are prescribed for cancer, specific infections and osteoporosis. Becerra also noted the Biden Administration is not finished with lowering the cost of health care as there is more work to be done.
These medications will now have a lower Part B co-insurance rate from July 1 - September 30, through the “Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program”, a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act requiring Big Pharma to pay rebates to Medicare when costs rise faster than the rate of inflation.
As part of this legislation, the beginning of the year saw annual out-of-pocket prescription costs capped at about $3,500 for some people who are enrolled in Medicare Part D. This is expected to be annually lowered to $2,000 for all seniors enrolled in Part D beginning in 2025. Additionally, under the Low-Income Subsidy Program, the new law enabled roughly 300,000 people of low income to become part of a benefit expansion. The price of insulin has already been capped at $35 and now the cost of prescription drugs can be negotiated down with manufacturers.
To see a list of these drugs click here: Reduced Coinsurance for Certain Part B Rebatable Drugs under the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program (cms.gov)
To learn more about the Rebate Program click here: Inflation Rebates in Medicare | CMS. This information also includes a fact sheet on the Part B rebatable drug coinsurance reduction.