Biden to urge Congress to lower prescription drug costs

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday will call on U.S. lawmakers to enact legislation aimed at lowering drug prices, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and imposing penalties on drugmakers that hike prices faster than inflation, the White House said.

“While the pharmaceutical companies have done enormous work by developing life-saving COVID-19 vaccines alongside the United States’ best scientists, crippling drug prices are unacceptable,” Biden will note in a speech scheduled for 11:15 a.m. (1515 GMT), according to a White House official.

U.S. President Joe Biden discusses his ‘Build Back Better’ agenda for economic growth and job creation following early morning Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the budget resolution, during a speech in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The Democratic president’s remarks aim to lay out his vision to help reduce the costs for prescription medications as part of his Build Back Better agenda he is seeking to push through Congress as the nation continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have earned high praise for quickly developing vaccines against the novel coronavirus. But the outbreak of the highly contagious disease, which upended the economy and has so far killed more than 617,000 people in the United States, also drew renewed attention on healthcare costs.

Drugmakers, reeling from reduced doctor visits and demand for some drugs amid the pandemic, have raised prices on more than 500 medicines this year, an analysis released in January showed.

After passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus-related bill in March, Democrats adopted a two-pronged strategy — a $1 trillion hard infrastructure plan that passed the Senate this week and a forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending measure for so-called human infrastructure.

That spending plan would expand Medicare to include dental, vision, hearing benefits and lowering the eligibility age, among other healthcare, climate and childcare provisions. More than 61.2 million people have coverage under the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Biden will urge lawmakers to allow CMS to negotiate for a subset of the highest cost drugs that have no competitors.

“Medicare negotiators would be provided a framework for what constitutes a fair price for each drug, and there should be powerful incentives to make sure drug companies agree to a reasonable price,” the White House said in a statement ahead of his remarks.

Congress should also cap how much Medicare beneficiaries pay annually for out-of-pocket for drugs, it added.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)