Comment by qeternity
Comment by qeternity 3 months ago
Why is there a specific list? Why don't we just let Medicare negotiate.
Comment by qeternity 3 months ago
Why is there a specific list? Why don't we just let Medicare negotiate.
A little more complicated because in some settings drugs are covered by Medicare part B but generally not if administered yourself at home. Then yes it’s part D and the most out of pocket in Part D from 2025 going forward is $2K.
Also, they do negotiate for a very few drugs and the number is climbing. This was part of the IRA. However only drugs that are FDA approved for your issues are covered.
Before the IRA the government was not allowed to negotiate any drug prices by law which was/is crazy.
What, specifically, wasn’t HHS allowed to do? They weren’t purchasing the drugs.
Certainly the VA can and does negotiate prices for the drugs it buys (that’s one input to the HHS Medicare price-fixing formula), but it has a formulary and is buying drugs for its patients directly.
At least the door is cracked open and it's a start.
Of course, Big Pharma will fight to slam it shut again.
That's because it's not really a solution.
It's not a negotiation between two parties with equal power, it's just the government saying "either pay this price or you'll be penalized".
The better solution is to allow parallel trade of pharmaceutical across borders.
It will force countries paying far less to pay more and conversely the US paying less.
> The better solution is to allow parallel trade of pharmaceutical across borders.
No, no it's only a global economy when companies want to manufacture products using slaves in third world countries or they want to outsource programmers and call center employees, but not when consumers want to buy medications or DVDs at the prices they sell for in those same countries or even just want to get higher quality products they refuse to sell you here (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hershey-sues-shops-importing-br...)
Pat and cynical oversimplifications are bad for discourse, because they suggest that a default angry response is correct and, coincidentally, frees you from having to think harder about anything.
Don't give in!
We can debate the merits of various drug pricing schemes but at the end of the day, prices are set by a small group of interested actors who want the prices to be as high as they possibly can without causing a violet revolt. So call it what you will but let's not pretend there's some deeper, more important meaning to be sussed out here.
Because this isn’t really a “negotiation” as configured by the statute: Medicare doesn’t have a formulary, it doesn’t pay for drugs, the Part D plan providers (some quite large and with their own negotiating heft) do.
It’s a price-setting exercise. Yes, the drug-maker can walk away, but at the cost of massive punitive excise taxes on selling their drug to anyone in the US, not just Medicare Part D plans.