Remember when trump promised something like this but delivered nothing...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-having-very-productive-presidency-213840260.html
Joe Biden Is Having A More Productive Presidency Than You Probably Realize
Jonathan Cohn
Fri, June 16, 2023 at 5:38 PM EDT·5 min read
President Joe Biden speaks about prescription drugs costs at the University of Nevada on March 15.
If you want to understand why the Biden administration gets so little credit for its accomplishments ― and why, perhaps, it deserves to get a little more ― pay attention to a little-noticed policy announcement from last Friday.
The announcement was a list of 43 prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare and whose prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. The list included relatively well-known drugs like Humira, which treats a variety of inflammatory conditions, plus some more obscure medications like Leukine, which helps cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy stave off infection.
Until recently, such price hikes would have simply meant higher costs for the Medicare program ― and for individual seniors paying out of pocket. Or, to put it more bluntly, American taxpayers as well as American consumers were at the complete mercy of the drug industry’s pricing.
But that’s not how things work anymore, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act ― you know, the law that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress spent more than a year debating before finally enacting it in August 2022 and that almost everybody seems to have forgotten about since.
A big focus of the IRA is lowering prescription drug costs, and one way it does that is by penalizing drug companies that hike prices faster than the rate of inflation. The 43 drugs on last week’s list all met that criteria. Because of that, manufacturers will have to give some money back to the federal government, effectively helping to fund Medicare costs.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-having-very-productive-presidency-213840260.html
Joe Biden Is Having A More Productive Presidency Than You Probably Realize
Jonathan Cohn
Fri, June 16, 2023 at 5:38 PM EDT·5 min read
President Joe Biden speaks about prescription drugs costs at the University of Nevada on March 15.
If you want to understand why the Biden administration gets so little credit for its accomplishments ― and why, perhaps, it deserves to get a little more ― pay attention to a little-noticed policy announcement from last Friday.
The announcement was a list of 43 prescription drugs that are covered by Medicare and whose prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. The list included relatively well-known drugs like Humira, which treats a variety of inflammatory conditions, plus some more obscure medications like Leukine, which helps cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy stave off infection.
Until recently, such price hikes would have simply meant higher costs for the Medicare program ― and for individual seniors paying out of pocket. Or, to put it more bluntly, American taxpayers as well as American consumers were at the complete mercy of the drug industry’s pricing.
But that’s not how things work anymore, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act ― you know, the law that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress spent more than a year debating before finally enacting it in August 2022 and that almost everybody seems to have forgotten about since.
A big focus of the IRA is lowering prescription drug costs, and one way it does that is by penalizing drug companies that hike prices faster than the rate of inflation. The 43 drugs on last week’s list all met that criteria. Because of that, manufacturers will have to give some money back to the federal government, effectively helping to fund Medicare costs.
