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A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 30 august 2023

10 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations as Biden pitches

cost reductions

Continued from Front United States of America,
no senior should have to
Any lower prices won’t take choose between whether
effect for three years, and they fill their prescription or
the path forward could fill their fridge with food,”
be further complicated by Vice President Kamala Har-
litigation from drugmakers ris said.
and heavy criticism from For drugs on the list re-
Republicans. leased Tuesday, the gov-
But the effort is a center- ernment aims to negoti-
piece of Biden’s reelection ate the lowest maximum
pitch as the Democrat tries fair price. That could help
to show Americans he’s some patients who have
deserving of a second term coverage but still face big
because of the work he’s bills like coinsurance pay-
doing to lower costs while ments when they get a pre-
the country is struggling scription.
with inflation. The drug About 9% of Medicare
negotiations, like many beneficiaries age 65 and
of Biden’s biggest policy older said in 2021 that they
moves, will take time to did not fill a prescription or
play out, and his challenge skipped a drug dose due
is to persuade the public to to cost, according to re-
be patient. President Joe Biden, followed by Vice President Kamala Harris, arrives to speak during an event on search by the Common-
“For all of you out there, I prescription drug costs, in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Washington. wealth Fund, which studies
get it, and millions of Ameri- Associated Press health care issues.
cans get it,” Biden said at 1, 2022, and May 31, ac- Merck made the list. It also Fiasp, a fast-acting insulin The new drug price nego-
the White House. “I prom- cording to the Centers for included Amgen’s autoim- taken around meals. tiations aim “to basically
ise you. I’m going to have Medicare and Medicaid mune disease treatment The announcement Tues- make drugs more afford-
your back and I’ll never Services, or CMS. Enbrel and Entresto from day is another significant able while also still allow-
stop fighting for you on this That includes more than Novartis, which is used to step toward taming drug ing for profits to be made,”
issue.” $16 billion on Eliquis, a to- treat heart failure. pricing under the Inflation said Gretchen Jacobson,
He noted that he got “no tal that does not count dis- Other drugs on the list in- Reduction Act, which was who researches Medicare
help from the other team” counts or rebates that are clude AstraZeneca’s dia- signed by Biden last year. issues at Commonwealth.
— meaning Republicans — already negotiated for the betes and heart failure The law also calls for a The federal government will
when it came to lowering drug. The drug from Pfizer treatment Farxiga and $2,000 annual cap on how benefit most from any low-
prescription costs. and Bristol-Myers Squibb three drugs from Johnson & much people with Medi- ered drug prices, noted Lar-
The drugs on the list an- treats blood clots in the Johnson: the blood thinner care have to pay out of ry Levitt, an executive vice
nounced Tuesday ac- legs and lungs and reduces Xarelto, the blood cancer pocket for drugs starting in president for health policy
counted for $3.4 billion the risk of stroke in people treatment Imbruvica and 2025. at KFF, another non-profit
in out-of-pocket costs for with an irregular heartbeat it’s biggest seller, Stelara, In addition, the law already that studies health care.
Medicare patients last called atrial fibrillation. an IV treatment for psoria- caps out-of-pocket costs But he said that if Medicare
year. The diabetes treatments sis and other inflammatory for insulin at $35 a month for spends less on prescription
The Medicare program Jardiance from Eli Lilly and disorders. Medicare patients. drugs, then premiums for
paid more than $50 billion Co. and Boehringer Ingel- The list also includes several “We are here today with everyone with its drug cov-
for the drugs between June heim and Januvia from versions of Novo Nordisk’s the firm belief that in the erage also should fall.q

No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise

is diagnosed with blood cancer

treatment. Scalise, 57, said cancer diagnosis came, and serving the people of
he will continue to serve in Scalise said, after he had Louisiana's First Congres-
the House. He described not been feeling like him- sional District." Scalise also
the cancer as "very treat- self in the past week. Blood thanked his medical team
able" and said it was de- tests showed some irregu- and said he was "incredibly
tected early. The Louisiana larities and after additional grateful we were able to
Republican was among screening, he said he was detect this early and that
several people wounded in diagnosed with multiple this cancer is treatable."
2017 when a rifle-wielding myeloma. "I have now be- Colleagues in the House
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., joined at right by attacker fired on lawmak- gun treatment, which will and members of Louisiana's
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., arrives for a news conference ers on a baseball field in continue for the next sev- congressional delegation
at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
Associated Press Alexandria, Virginia, out- eral months," Scalise said offered Scalise and his fam-
side Washington. Scalise in a statement. "I expect ily their encouragement in
WASHINGTON (AP) — he has been diagnosed was shot in the hip and en- to work through this pe- response to the announce-
Rep. Steve Scalise, the with a form of blood can- dured lengthy hospitaliza- riod and intend to return ment, some recalling his
No. 2-ranking House Re- cer known as multiple my- tions, multiple surgeries and to Washington, continuing determination following
publican, said Tuesday eloma and is undergoing painful rehabilitation. The my work as Majority Leader the 2017 shooting.q