Washington, D.C. – The Biden administration has announced the first 10 medications under its new Medicare price-setting plan for prescription drugs that was established by the Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.” This new regime to impose price-controls set by Washington bureaucrats is an unworkable, legally dubious scheme that will lead to higher prices for new drugs coming to market, stifle the development of new cures, and destroy jobs. The move will threaten access to care and drive up prices on seniors, detailed in a fact sheet released today by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO), and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID).
“While the President gleefully celebrates announcing the first ten drugs forced into his socialist price setting scheme, Americans are already seeing fewer potentially lifesaving cures and treatments,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rodgers. “President Biden was quick to champion the Cancer Moonshot initiative, yet it is patients, like those who are battling cancer and rely on new and innovative treatments who will suffer the most. Moreover, the incentives created by the new drug price setting regime may lead to higher initial list prices, potentially wiping out any savings to patients. Our committees will continue working to mitigate the worst effects of the Innovation Reduction Act and urge our colleagues across the aisle to help us protect patients’ access to new treatments and cures.”
“The Biden administration is trying to take a victory lap while at the same time they are pricing seniors out of their health care and ensuring future cures never reach those who need them,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chair Smith. “Democrats are radically dismantling Medicare’s promise to America’s seniors – all in a futile effort to pay for hundreds of billions of dollars in special interest tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected that were jammed into the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. This price-setting scheme gives government bureaucrats command and control over Americans’ health care while ensuring only the wealthy will be able to afford the newest medications.”
“The government price controls included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) risk reversing decades of progress on bringing lifesaving treatments and medical breakthroughs to American patients,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Crapo. “The partisan law’s sweeping price-setting program ignores economic realities, and its implementation process has already begun to erode new drug development, including for cancer therapies and rare disease medications. As seniors and working families confront the IRA’s harmful consequences, from domestic manufacturing job losses to higher launch prices for new drugs, I hope that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle can come together to mitigate these devastating effects and advance consensus-based, market-driven solutions to access and affordability challenges.”
Click here to get the facts on the Democrats’ drug price-setting scheme.
Reprinted with permission from Energy and Commerce.
The Inflation Reduction Act contains many types of avenues for expanding the role of the federal government to ultimately control, via regulations and arbitrary executive branch fiats by government bureaucrats with no real knowledge or experience in the industry sectors they seek to dominate, but lots of political axes to grind, of the United States economy. In simple terms, this is the merely the FDR dream of micro-management of the private sector economy taken to its logical socialist end point. Today the focus is the healthcare and energy sectors of the economy that the Democrats have targeted for “transformation”. Tomorrow it will move the auto, technology, electrical infrastructure, general transportation and other sectors of the economy. Then we will have the same stagnant economy as the rest of the other failed socialist democracies around the world. This is defacto economic nationalization of via regulation and price controls.
This is the next phase of reshaping the overall healthcare sector started under Obama via ObamaCare in its initial rollout in 2012. Look at how that so-called money saving, humanitarian, progressive gesture turned out. Gone is the choice of “You can keep your doctor, if you like your doctor”, “You will save $2,500 per year, every year, in premium savings once ObamaCare is implemented’ and “You will be able to keep your existing healthcare insurance, if you like your present healthcare insurance”. All lies as the price of healthcare skyrocketed and personal choice evaporated. ObamaCare imposed a one-size-fits-all, top-down standard on everyone. The cost of private healthcare insurance, as well as group healthcare insurance, has risen 400 to 500 percent in a little over a decade.
This so-called money-saving drug pricing policy will have the exact same result. In the end, we will end up with less new drugs coming to market, as the R&D budgets of every pharma company will be slashed. Soon after that, we’ll start to see shortages appear for virtually every single drug the federal government sets price controls on. This is exactly how similar government price fixing policies have played out in other countries that have gone this route around the world. Again, there is no reason to repeat the mistakes of other countries and endure the same pain they do, but it seems since very few in the public seem interested in how these exact same policies have already failed elsewhere, we seem content to allow the current group of Marxists in the White House to repeat it here.
Of course it’s a SCAM. Why all of sudden Dictator Beijing biden PUSHING to get the NEW CHINA VIRUS VACCINE so he and others like Fauci get MORE Kickbacks and TRY to ENFORCE NEW TOTAL CONTROL OVER YOU.
Look at the LOSER he picked for the NIH (A CRIMINAL).
WAKE UP AMERICA!
I have some major autoimmune issues, refused the jab because of them, they cause enough turmoil internally chose not to add more to the mix. I digress. Haven’t really seen my 4 specialists since November 2019, followed by Covid. Bottom line I have been doing so much better, lost about 55 lbs, dropped several meds. I question whether we need all the meds we are prescribed, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
If Jackass Joe Biden’s Communist wannabe Government is allowed to control Healthcare it will diminish the rights of the populace and give Government the right to determine whether you will live or die. The People have NO RIGHTS in a COMMUNIST REGIME other than the Government OWNING your MInd, Body and Soul! You can see how “happy” the peoples of China and Russia are!
FJB ILLEGITIMENT INCOMPETANT BOOB!
There is a mad man in the White House and he is well on his way to screwing the vast majority of tax paying citizens. Every time he is legally blocked from expanding his socialist spending, he tries to find a way around the law. If not, only his rich cronies will benefit. Make no mistake, Biden is not smart enough to pull this off on his own. There are names like Soros, Obama, Zuckerberg, Big Pharma and the Lamestream Media helping him. We as citizens must elect an honest President next year. One who will clean up this mess. Not sure who it will be, but someone with a moral compass.
No one in government has done anything, EVER to try to fix our dysfunctional health care system. As is is a threat to everyone. They all just make it more convoluted .
“Price controls” always create more problems than they solve. Nixon tried that way back when. Liberal cities have tried to stifle rent increases which only made more people homeless. Like most things LIBs come up with, it SOUNDS nice but doesn’t work!
“The Biden administration has announced the first 10 medications under its new Medicare price-setting plan” once again, another article that fails to name the medication’s listed under the plan. This looks more and more like another “I’m here to help, I’m from the government” plan.
Did we expect anything else from ole Joe and the dems? O care was created for the rich not for the poor. And this regime is continuing with the drugs and taking treatments away from every American that makes less than 100K a year. Why? to make them dependent on the government and thereby they become obedient to ole Joe and subsequent dem rulers.
This shall not pass. We seniors need to stick together and inform our Congressmen and Senator that we are sick and tired of this socialist government shoving this mess down our throats.
NO MORE BS POLITICS SLOPPY JOE.
Tough to imagine why any breathing human will continue to vote this agenda. BO was bad enough though many failed to recognize the evil. Now BO.2 is here and we continue to see defenders. Wake up before the roses are gone!
Once again a power and money grab by the corrupt marxist democrat party.
The misnamed “inflation refiction act” is more unconstitutional garbage aimed at control over Citizens and destruction of America’s economy.
Increase the size of an already bloated and ineffective federal burraracy, take away freedom of choice, government takeover of Healthcare and remember EVERY democrat participated in it.
I PRAY there are enough REAL Citizens to stand up and end this insanity and dismantling of America,Freedom and OUR God Given Rights!
Get out of our healthcare,it’s between a Doctor and Paitient.
WAKE UP AMERICA – the democrats, rinos and washington bureaucrats are collectively taking away OUR Country and Freedom.
Many people listen only to what they say their doing FOR you,what you get for “free”,look deeper at what their actions REALLY do.NOTHING is free,and the real benefactors are the politicians and political parties.
My wife’s doctor just sent in her prescription for life-saving insulin. The pharmacy said come back September 8th. WTH????????
Those people along with the oligarchs do not want any senior citizens around. If we alll disappeared tomorrow, they would be overjoyed. We are pretty useless, using money they want to themselves. Whatever the Marxists say they do for us, will never happen, unless they are removed from our government and maybe our society. They don’t believe in God. They only believe in money.
What’s next. An increase in the DEATH TAX?????
If history proves anything: Once a FU, always a FU. So I have no doubt this will do what the rest if this faux bill did and MAKE IT COST MORE!
We warned everyone that this would happen when obuma and pelosie took health care. This is only the beginning, it will only ge
We need to vote these people out of office as soon as possible. If you don’t vote, don’t complain about the outcome. We need to pray for our leaders (all of them) while they are still in office. I am asking God to tear the scales from their eyes so they may see what is really going on in our country and to open their ears to hear from Him and Him alone. Sorry for the ramble, but I am very frustrated with our government today.
Simple fact: any time the government takes control, things go to pot real fast. Hopefully seniors will see past the lies of the socialist democrat party and vote these tyrants out of office. Seniors are constantly fed garbage about how the republicans will take everything away and the socialist democrats are their savior. Hopefully now many people are awake.
Out of the thousands and thousands of medications out there, how did they pick ten? And which ten ARE they?
Actually, AMAC needs to keep telling the stories of Home remedies so folks get off the drugs they have been convinced they need.
A way for Biden to raise money for his group and pharmaceutical industry
Isn’t it strange that these octogenarians are attacking those younger than they?
To deny HC then right
When will congress and the house put themselves on Medicare and see what it is truly like. Same with social security, when you earn what the average middle class American earns maybe you’ll understand but I doubt it
When you Sunday newspaper arrives and there is a four page wrap around for a hospital and there are countless advertisements on the inside, it isn’t a stretch to infer that the whole medical system is int league with the administration’s criminal enterprise.
No one should be surprised by this!! Biden has plenty of money (that he came by in criminal fashion) so he personally doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his crime family!! Democrats only care about anyone when it’s time to vote, otherwise, we don’t count nor does our opinion count!! So, when Joe and Democrats are coming up with their plans, they don’t take into consideration feelings or an elderly person’s health or finances!! I’m tired of the feds thinking it’s their job to interfere in every aspect of our lives!!! Shrink the size of government and the national debt!!! Stop the spending!!
This so called Price Reduction Act will only hurt seniors more than help. Next year at this time we will see an increase in prescription drug plan premiums. someone will have to pay for the higher cost of medications and guess who will be doing that!!!! it won’t be big pharma or the Medicare Part D plans. it will be passed along to us in higher monthly premiums and drugs on higher tiers in the formulary. this along with “bidumbnoics” will put a lot of seniors in the poor house. and NO i didn’t misspell that!!!!
Are healthcare costs too high? Yes! Will the IRA rein in these costs? No! Why should US Citizens pay the entire costs for R&D on new drugs so that big pharma can give them to the rest of the world at less than cost? Until this question is answered, politicians using smoke and mirror price controls will continue to fool the American public.
Interesting to note the author is listed as ” outside contributor”. Why not identify with full transparency who specifically the contributor is and who they work for ?
While I’m not an advocate of government price controls the drug companies and their distribution partners are making tens of Billions on these high end critical medications like Eliquis which is taken by many seniors like myself to help prevent stroke and other serious heart related ailments. They keep filing for extensions of their patent to keep others from making a more affordable generic alternative. Luckily I have Medicare part D coverage but still have out of pocket yearly costs over 2 thousand dollars because after a decade or more there’s no generic alternative. At what point does the manufacturer of Eliquis and these other life saving drugs make enough profit to fund their research and enhance the investment by their shareholders. Eliquis is manufactured by a Swiss company where the local citizens are paying much less than us here in the USA. Go figure.
Bidens socialistic and communistic plan for the US is coming fast
not much info on how it will raise the cost to seniors…poor article…
Don’t worry about medicine most of you can’t afford it anyway lol