 Health Care |
Health Care |
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Medicare gives drugmakers initial offers in negotiations |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made opening offers to the manufacturers of the first 10 expensive prescription drugs that were selected for the Medicare price negotiation program. But much of the process is still TBD. |
Credit: Bristol Myers Squibb |
The offers are a significant part of the negotiation process, but they are just the first step. Along with the offers, the government sent the companies the justifications for the prices. But HHS won't reveal any details until the final offers are agreed to by September. As PhRMA, the industry's powerful lobbying group, noted: No member of the public will have any information to understand how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services weighted the factors or rated therapeutic value of a product that led to the starting price. Administration officials said the drug companies were welcome to disclose the offers, but it's unlikely that will happen. The federal government and manufacturers will hold three meetings between now and when negotiations are scheduled to end in August. "It is a huge step and has been a long time and coming. Through the actions of Medicare and with all 10 companies negotiating, we are very much on our way to lower costs," White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden said in a briefing Wednesday. The companies are also engaged in active litigation against the administration. Until those lawsuits play out, it's unclear if the negotiation program will even survive — though judges in the cases argued so far have appeared skeptical of the industry's arguments. The industry has long argued that negotiation will stifle private innovation and discourage companies from bringing new drugs to the market. The politics are clear though, and the White House and HHS have been loudly promoting the effort. "Medicare is no longer taking whatever prices for these drugs that the pharmaceutical companies demand," President Biden said in a statement. |
Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. |
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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: |
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Branch out with a different read: |
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After Washington state lawsuit, Providence health system erases or refunds $158M in medical bills |
SEATTLE (AP) — Providence health care system is refunding nearly $21 million in medical bills paid by low-income residents of Washington — and it’s erasing $137 million more in outstanding debt for tens of thousands of others — to settle the state’s allegations that it overcharged those patients and then used aggressive collection … |
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Local and state headlines on health care: |
- How the battleground state of North Carolina expanded Medicaid to thousands after long fight (ABC News)
- Why Delaware is eying a 27% premium hike on state employees' health insurance (The News Journal)
- Steward's financial woes raise questions about for-profit health care (WBUR)
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Health news we've flagged from other outlets: |
- New cancer cases to increase 77% by 2050, WHO estimates (CBS News)
- Vaccine skepticism, equity issues hinder cervical cancer fight (Roll Call)
- Methadone treatment gets first major update in over 20 years (Stat)
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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