Dems offer roadmap to expand drug price talks
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Senate Democrats on Tuesday are unveiling a proposal to expand Medicare drug price negotiations, in a bid to counter President Trump's election-year messaging on health care affordability.
Why it matters: High prescription drug prices are a key concern for voters ahead of the midterms — one Trump is trying to address through voluntary pricing deals with leading drug companies and with the TrumpRx website.
Driving the news: Democrats argue Trump hasn't delivered meaningful results the way they did in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act, which included first-ever government price talks with the pharmaceutical industry.
- A 48-page outline from Senate Finance Committee Democrats released Tuesday lays out a range of follow-on proposals that the party could pass if it wins back power in November, and asks for feedback.
- Options include making more drugs subject to the Medicare negotiations each year and cutting the time between when a drug is launched and negotiations can begin.
- Using an idea Trump frequently touts, the plan also calls for factoring lower prices paid in other developed countries into Medicare drug price negotiations.
What they're saying: Democrats contrasted their drug pricing proposals with Trump's "most favored nation" agreements that 17 major manufacturers struck with the administration.
- "Trump has tried to capitalize on Americans' frustration by claiming that he is bringing drug prices in the United States down to international levels," the document states. "None of his efforts, however, have delivered results."
- Democrats, it says, "delivered durable policy change" through the Inflation Reduction Act but "recognize more must be done to lower prices."
Between the lines: Drug prices consistently rank high among voters' affordability concerns.
- The Senate Finance document points to polling Trump pollster Fabrizio Ward did for Arnold Ventures last year that found that 86% of Trump voters and 88% of voters overall say it is important for the government to negotiate drug prices.
- Democratic pollster Lake Research Partners this month found more than two-thirds of voters say prescription drug prices have gotten more expensive and that most blame the pharmaceutical industry.
The other side: Trump says he's delivering on promises to put patients first with the drug pricing deals — and that Americans are no longer paying high prices to subsidize low prices in the rest of the world.
- "By itself we should win the midterms, but it doesn't work that way unfortunately," Trump said in April.
- Those deals are focused on prices in Medicaid and for future drugs, meaning that they largely do not cover what's on the market for the huge population in Medicare and on private insurance.
- The administration hasn't revealed the terms of the pricing deals, citing confidentiality.
Zoom in: Beyond expanding drug price negotiations, the Senate Democrats also call for policies to lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.
- One proposal would base a patient's out-of-pocket costs in Medicare off the lower net price of a drug, rather than the full list price.
- Another could extend the $35 out-of-pocket cap on insulin to other medications, such as asthma inhalers.
What's next: These policies have little chance of passing this year but help lay groundwork for Democratic action if they win control of one or both chambers next year.
