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Under current law, the secretary of Health and Human Services is prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries.
By Forum Staff
As inflation continues to cause the cost of living to skyrocket in the Big Apple, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday announced her policy package to reduce costs and slash prescription drug prices: the “Gillibrand Prescription for Lower Drug Prices.”
Gillibrand noted that experts say that reining in prescription drug costs may be Congress’ best shot at fighting inflation. According to AARP, if consumer prices rose as much as prescription drug prices over the years, a gallon of gas would cost more than $12 today. For the past several decades, prescription drug prices have risen faster than inflation.
The core pieces of the “Gillibrand Prescription for Lower Drug Prices” are:
- Reimagine financial assistance for Medicare. Legislation to create the Medicare Cost Assistance Program, a new, streamlined program to provide assistance with Medicare Part A and Part B premiums and cost-sharing for low-income individuals. This would reimagine financial assistance for Medicare Part A, Part B and Part D. The legislation would also expand and streamline administration of the Extra Help program to provide premium and cost-sharing assistance to eligible low-income individuals with Medicare Part D.
- Review brand-name price gouging. Legislation that would level the market for Americans purchasing prescription drugs by pegging the price in the United States to the median price in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.
- Empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices. A bill that directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D.
- Import lower-cost drugs from Canada. Legislation to allow patients, pharmacists and wholesalers to import safe, affordable medicine from Canada and other major countries.
- Expand subsidies to seniors living in U.S. territories. Legislation that would make Medicare beneficiaries in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, eligible for the Medicare Part D Low Income Subsidy program. Under current law, low-income Medicare beneficiaries in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are ineligible for Medicare Part D subsidies. This program, known as “Extra Help,” provides federal subsidies to help low-income seniors with their monthly premiums and other out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.
Under current law, the secretary of HHS is prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries. In contrast, other government programs, like Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), are allowed to negotiate. According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, Medicare paid twice as much for the same prescription drugs as the VA in 2017.
“With inflation high and while our nation is recovering from the pandemic drug prices remain unacceptably high, which puts a heavy financial burden on older adults and families throughout New York City and across the country,” Gillibrand said. “I am releasing the ‘Gillibrand Prescription for Lower Drug Prices’ plan to provide a framework for slashing drug prices, which would provide much-needed relief as inflation continues to raise the cost of living for average New Yorkers. From fighting price gouging to importing affordable drugs from Canada to enabling Medicare to negotiate drug prices, this plan will help us bring down costs for countless Americans.”
