Oct. 18, 2022 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is beginning to establish a framework for the Medicare drug pricing negotiations mandated in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a process that will be complicated and controversial. “Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – including provisions to mandate Medicare negotiations on […]
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Aug. 15, 2022 — The Inflation Reduction Act passed last week may represent the best outcome the biopharma industry reasonably could have hoped for at a time when so many in Congress are eager to respond to strong public opinion that prescription prices are too high. The new legislation, which reins in some drug costs […]
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May 2, 2022 – Although Medicare Advantage (MA) plans often are touted for delivering more benefits at a lower cost than traditional Medicare, some critics argue that MA organizations (MAOs) deny beneficiaries coverage that they would receive under Medicare rules – including MRIs and post-acute care – in order to increase profits. As MA plan […]
Read more April 12, 2022 – Despite roughly 10,000 public comments and intense lobbying regarding a draft national coverage determination for the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will retain the proposal’s coverage plan: Medicare will only fund prescriptions of Aduhelm for patients enrolled in randomized, controlled […]
Read more Nov. 1, 2021 – As Congress and the White House parry back and forth over specific provisions in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, the proposed legislation currently includes some expansion of healthcare coverage, new infrastructure money for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but no significant actions to tackle drug prices – yet […]
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Aug. 16, 2021 – As part of his “Build Back Better” agenda, President Joe Biden re-emphasized in a televised address last week that he would like Congress to make changes that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices to reduce costs for “millions of Americans.” Specifically, Biden wants to see legislative reforms that would remove […]
Read more Sept. 20, 2019 – Although the House proposal unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to combat high drug prices would cap Medicare drug prices based on the average price in six developed countries, require that the federal government and drug companies negotiate prices for up to 250 of the most expensive prescription drugs, mandate […]
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Feb. 20, 2018 – In President Donald J. Trump’s FY 2019 Budget, drug pricing is one of the top priorities for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “The President’s budget makes investments and reforms that are vital to making our health and human services programs work for […]
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