Washington, Aug 16 (Agency) The Biden administration said on Thursday that drug price negotiations will knock hundreds of dollars, in some cases thousands, off the list prices of 10 of Medicare’s most popular and costliest drugs. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the discounts, agreed to after months of negotiations with drug manufacturers, range between 38 and 79 percent on the medication’s list price. “If the new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated 6 billion U.S. dollars, or approximately 22 percent, across the 10 selected drugs,” said the statement. “People with Medicare prescription drug coverage are expected to see aggregated estimated savings of 1.5 billion dollars in their personal out-of-pocket costs in 2026.”
The newly negotiated prices will affect the price of drugs used by millions of older Americans to help manage diabetes, blood cancers and prevent heart failure or blood clots. The drugs include the blood thinners Xarelto and Eliquis and diabetes drugs Jardiance and Januvia. “It’s a landmark deal for the Medicare program, which provides healthcare coverage for more than 67 million older and disabled Americans. For decades, the federal government had been barred from bartering with pharmaceutical companies over the price of their drugs, even though it’s a routine process for private insurers,” said The Los Angeles Times in its report about the move. “For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities,” President Joe Biden said in the HHS statement. “But we fought back — and won.”