President Backs Medicare Drug Pricing Measure: ‘Let’s Get It Done This Year’

Stat: Biden Called For Drug Pricing Reform This Year. But It’s An Empty Call
President Biden told Congress Wednesday to let Medicare negotiate drug prices this year. But it’s an empty call to action. “Let’s give Medicare the power to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs. That won’t just help people on Medicare – it will lower prescription drug costs for everyone,” Biden said in his address. “Let’s get it done this year.” (Cohrs, 4/28)

The Hill: Biden Calls On Congress To Pass Drug Pricing Legislation This Year
However, Biden notably did not include a drug pricing component in his American Families Plan unveiled earlier Wednesday, a major legislative package with proposals on paid leave and child care. The absence of a drug pricing plan, despite pressure from congressional Democrats to include one, has raised questions about Biden's commitment to moving forward on the legislation. Still, Biden made forceful remarks in Wednesday's speech, while presenting health care as a separate topic from the Families Plan. (Sullivan, 4/28)

The Washington Examiner: Biden Endorses Controversial Drug Pricing Plan To Pay For Obamacare
House Democrats first passed the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now legislation, or H.R. 3, in December 2019, but it stalled before getting a vote in the majority-GOP Senate. The sweeping drug pricing reform package would allow the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare. The bill would also require a drug’s price to be set at or below 120% of the average price across six high-income countries — Australia, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. (Morrison, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: Biden Won't Pull The Plug On Price Transparency, Experts Say
CMS' plan to stop requiring hospitals to report their median payer-specific negotiated charges with Medicare Advantage insurers is a win for hospitals. Experts said that it's an easy way for the Biden administration to reduce administrative work for providers without giving up much in price transparency. But it probably doesn't say much about the Biden administration's thoughts on price transparency, according to Avalere Health consultant Tom Kornfield. "I wouldn't read anything more into this than a push for some administrative simplicity," Loren Adler, associate director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, said in an email. (Brady, 4/28)

Also —

CNBC: Biden American Families Plan Excludes Medicare Expansion, Drug Price Cuts
President Joe Biden’s new plan to boost the social safety net would not expand Medicare coverage, an omission that could irk dozens of Democratic lawmakers who urged him to extend the program to more Americans. The White House on Wednesday outlined the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, the second piece of the president’s more than $4 trillion economic recovery program. It calls to expand paid leave and free pre-K, make child care and higher education more affordable, and extend tax credits for families passed as part of the coronavirus relief bill this year. (Pramuk, 4/28)

CNBC: Biden Wants To Permanently Extend Enhanced Obamacare Premium Subsidies
A temporary federal policy aimed at making health insurance more affordable for tens of millions of Americans could become permanent. Under President Joe Biden’s $1.8 trillion plan to help families and children, which he will propose to Congress on Wednesday night, he would permanently extend recently expanded premium subsidies available for private health insurance through the public marketplace. The $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill enacted in March made the subsidies more generous for two years and expanded who can qualify for them. (O'Brien, 4/28)