Thanks to a provision of the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is now allowed to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs. On Thursday, the administration announced the results of the first round of those negotiations, and they’re little short of spectacular.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris haven’t received nearly the credit they deserve for their relentless focus on cutting drug prices. But this major announcement is likely to remind people about this critical work—just in time to further boost Harris’ surging campaign.
In these first-ever negotiations, the Department of Health and Human Services focused on 10 drugs commonly prescribed to Medicare patients. These products treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and kidney disease. Several are prescribed to over a million Americans, and they have names familiar to anyone who has sat through their commercials: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, and more.
HHS didn’t come back with minor discounts on these expensive products, either. Discounts range from 38% and 79%. Medicare is expected to save $6 billion in providing these drugs, and seniors’ out-of-pocket expenses could be cut by up to $1.5 billion.
This is just the first round of negotiations too, with another set expected to soon be underway. The savings from these negotiations represent tremendous short-term savings to consumers and much greater long-term savings for taxpayers.
The new prices are set to go into effect in 2026, but that is likely to depend on Harris winning the election in November.
Republicans have repeatedly attacked the idea of negotiating for lower prices—though, as Rolling Stone notes, this strategy has been widely successful for other nations. Instead, as Daily Kos’ Joan McCarter wrote in 2023, Republicans have sided with big pharma, presenting the government as a bully trying to force companies to lower costs and insisting that Medicare should pay whatever drug companies demand.
“Republicans have to figure out how to go after it,” former Trump advisor Joe Grogan told Politico.
In fact, just last week, a group of 18 House Republicans, including many occupying districts that Biden won in 2020, penned a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson attacking the IRA as “a deeply flawed bill,” without acknowledging the money everyday Americans will save on prescriptions.
Despite the opposition of Republican politicians, the idea of negotiating for lower drug prices is highly popular. According to KFF survey data, 81% of American adults support the government negotiating some drug prices for Medicare recipients. That includes 77% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
A June 2024 poll from Navigator Research found that a majority of Americans in battleground states, including 50% of Republicans, support both allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices and the $35 cap on insulin for Medicare recipients, which was also part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Lately, Donald Trump has claimed responsibility for lowering insulin prices. As usual, Trump is lying.
As Stat reports, Biden and Harris haven’t received the credit for these successful efforts to lower drug prices. Every single Republican voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, all while Biden pushed hard, Democrats came to their support, and Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the bill. And yet, only 48% of voters ages 65 and older aware of the price-negotiation plan, according to a recently released KFF poll
It should have become a big talking point for the media.
Except it didn’t. And the widespread failure to report on these issues may help turn this big Medicare win into a big campaign boost for Harris. According to Harvard professor emeritus Robert Blendon, this is the perfect time for Harris to introduce herself to retirees.
“It’s important that she gets credit for the future that’s distinct from Biden getting credit for the past,” Blendon told Stat.
That might not seem fair. Biden has worked hard on this issue. But it’s a good bet that, so long as it helps to defeat Trump, Joe doesn’t mind sharing the credit.
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