(StraightNews.org) – The Biden administration will reduce healthcare costs by imposing penalties on manufacturers. Under the Inflation Reduction Act’s powers, the administration has selected 64 drugs that producers must price in line with inflation or pay rebates to Medicare. The move aligns with one of Biden’s primary Presidential campaign promises, which he is expected to emphasize further as the election campaign proceeds.
The Inflation Reduction Act also allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers in recognition of inflated US prices compared to other developed nations. Americans pay around three times more than consumers in Europe, for instance.
Under the new plans, patients will pay a lower insurance rate on the 64 named drugs, which include Abecma, used to treat multiple myeloma, and Adectris, a widely used cancer drug.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that roughly 750,000 US patients are treated with these drugs each year, and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden argued that without the policy, patients are “completely exposed to Big Pharma’s price hikes.”
President Biden and his rival Donald Trump have both stated that US drug prices are too high. When the two candidates met in Atlanta for the first 2024 debate, both claimed credit for reducing the cost of insulin, and Mr. Trump accused Biden of “beating” Medicare “to death” and bringing it to the brink of insolvency.
Trump had previously pledged to scrap the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and unsuccessfully attempted to do so during his first White House term, but in recent social media posts, the former President expressed a change of view. On his Truth Social media account, Trump said he no longer wished to abolish the ACA but to improve it so that drug prices and insurance costs are reduced.
Elsewhere in the debate, Mr. Trump pledged that he would not prohibit use of the abortion drug Mifepristone in light of the Supreme Court decision rejecting efforts to restrict access to the pill.
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