Vermont Senator Peter Welch began working on legislation to lower prescription drug prices when he served in the U.S. House. On Wednesday he joined advocates to celebrate the implementation of provisions that will begin price negotiations for Medicare prescriptions.
On August 29th, the Biden Administration announced the first 10 prescription drugs that will be negotiated for Medicare prices under a provision that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Families USA Senior Director of Federal Relations Jen Taylor calls it a monumental step in achieving affordable prescription drugs.
“These are drugs that so many of us rely upon to treat chronic conditions. They cost people who rely on Medicare thousands upon thousands of dollars for just routine treatment. Among these drugs are blood thinners, diabetes medication, treatments for heart failure, cancer drugs. Taken altogether these drugs cost the Medicare program $50 billion over the last year, representing 20% of total Part D drug spending over that time.”
Vermont Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, says the government has been overpaying — prices set by pharmaceutical companies.
“We’re the only government where we buy wholesale we have to pay retail. And the Medicaid price negotiation essentially brings us, the United States of America through the Medicare program, into the same situation that the Pentagon's in and that every other country is in. If you're buying huge quantities you get to negotiate a bulk price discount. It's as simple as that.”
Vermont-based nurse practitioner Sarah DeSilvey works at the Georgia Health Center. She says there is a term in health care called moral distress that applies to the lack of affordable prescriptions.
“For patients that live on the margin these prices affect everything. So if they choose to go forward with the medication that's required and they're paying extensive out of pocket, it becomes the gas they can't buy or the foods they can't afford to eat. In the lives of many of the people that will be most drastically affected by the reduction in prices everything's interconnected”
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now President and Founder David Mitchell noted that more than a half dozen lawsuits have been filed by pharmaceutical companies to stop implementation of drug negotiations.
“The drug provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are historic. Over time, they're going to save money for millions of Americans. Now as a patient with, as was pointed out, incurable blood cancer I can tell you just one of my cancer drugs, an oral drug under Part D, costs about $1,000 per capsule but it costs less than $1 a capsule to make. So, we are going to keep working to make sure the courts understand how patients are going to be harmed if the law is delayed or overturned.”
