Senate Finance Chairman Releases Legislative Principles to Lower Drug Prices

WSC

June 23, 2021 10:26 am

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden has released a document outlining “legislative principles” for controlling drug prices.

The major provisions include: Medicare price negotiation and inflation rebates, giving commercial insurers the same drug prices that Medicare negotiates, blocking a Trump-era ban on rebates, and tailoring policies to protect small biotechnology companies.

The bill also will include cost-saving measures for Medicare beneficiaries, which both parties want. Legislation from 2019 in both the House and Senate called for restructuring the Part D benefit to cap beneficiaries’ annual out-of-pocket spending and reduce the government’s responsibility for catastrophic costs.

Senate Finance Committee: Principles for Drug Pricing Reform

Wyden Releases Principles For Lowering Drug Prices for Americans