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.