It’s Time to Lower Drug Prices for Everyone in America
In 2024, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), the government agency that runs Medicare, is implementing the historic Medicare negotiations provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The IRA lowers prescription drug costs for seniors and people with disabilities by limiting what patients can be charged out of pocket (out-of-pocket caps), penalizing drug corporations that raise their prices faster than inflation (inflationary caps) and, for the first time, requiring that drug corporations negotiate prices for the most expensive medicines in Medicare rather than setting prices unilaterally. Millions of Medicare patients will save billions over the coming decade thanks to the new law, but the fight for affordable medicines is far from over.
In mid-2023, leading House Democrats introduced the Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act (HR 4595), to extend these IRA eforms to millions more people with other kinds of health coverage.
“The Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act will build on this progress by providing those same lower negotiated prices to all Americans who are covered by private health plans. It also protects consumers against unfair price hikes and increases the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate on each year, meaning lower prices on more drugs sooner..”
– Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Pallone (D-NJ), Lead Sponsor
Prescription drug affordability is a widespread problem that leads to skipping doses, rationing medicine, negative health consequences and medical debt:
The Lower Drug Cost for American Families Act would make medicines more affordable, save employers and tax-payers money, and rein in the corporate price-gouging that forces many people to go without prescriptions they need.
Urge your representative to join as a sponsor of the bill today.
