Trump’s Drug Pricing Push Sidelines Medicare Negotiation Program

As President Donald Trump touts caller deals to cut nan costs of blockbuster narcotics for illustration Wegovy and Zepbound, he’s hardly mentioned Medicare’s supplier value speech programme — moreover though nan authorities is expected to denote little prices earlier nan extremity of nan month.

The program, created nether President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, gave Medicare nan authority to discuss straight pinch drugmakers connected immoderate of nan costliest medications.

A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesperson said nan agency is preparing to merchandise nan 2nd information of negotiated prices by Nov. 30 — covering 15 drugs, up from 10 past year, and adding Ozempic and Wegovy to nan list. The recently negotiated prices won’t return effect until 2027.

The deficiency of attraction has puzzled wellness argumentation experts, who opportunity nan programme could play an important domiciled successful lowering medicine supplier costs for millions of older adults successful nan U.S.

About 1-in-5 adults opportunity they’ve not filled a medicine because of cost, according to a canvass from nan nonpartisan wellness argumentation investigation group KFF.

“Certainly, nan flurry of announcements and deficiency of specifications [on negotiations] make things confusing,” said Dr. Benjamin Rome, a superior attraction expert and wellness argumentation interrogator astatine Harvard Medical School.

Trump’s attack to lowering supplier prices has leaned heavy connected executive orders and voluntary deals pinch drugmakers, alternatively than legislation. Last week, he announced agreements pinch Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — nan makers of Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively — to little prices for immoderate doses successful speech for tariff alleviation and accelerated Food and Drug Administration reappraisal of caller drugs. Several experts described nan specifications arsenic murky and questioned whether nan agreements would construe into existent savings for Americans. Trump has struck akin deals pinch Pfizer and Astrazenca.

Rome said nan Medicare speech programme is seen arsenic nan steadier, much reliable way to lowering costs for Americans.

Drugmakers tin diminution to participate — but doing truthful would apt require pulling their narcotics from Medicare entirely, cutting them disconnected from 1 of nan nation’s largest markets. Several companies person challenged nan speech programme successful court, but those lawsuits person truthful acold been unsuccessful.

“Although it’s awesome that nan Trump management wants to aggressively discuss little prices pinch pharmaceutical companies, these advertisement hoc negotiations look to beryllium much astir announcing short-term governmental victories,” Rome said.

“I would beryllium very skeptical of relying solely connected voluntary deals pinch supplier manufacturers arsenic a main argumentation for making medications much affordable to Americans,” Rome added. “By contrast, nan IRA perfectly will prevention money for taxpayers done nan speech process.”

Despite nan looming announcement, nan White House has said small publically astir nan speech programme aliases really it fits into Trump’s broader push to little supplier prices.

In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “Democrats endlessly touted nan Inflation Reduction Act, which ironically nether Biden’s watch did small but summation Medicare premiums. The Trump management is focused connected results, and our historical supplier pricing deals pinch world pharmaceutical giants are impervious that we will proceed to present meaningful alteration for nan American people.”

Last year, nan Biden management announced agreements to little prices connected 10 medicine drugs nether Medicare, pinch those cuts group to return effect successful 2026. The narcotics included nan blockbuster humor thinner Eliquis, on pinch respective crab and glucosuria treatments. At nan time, management officials projected nan negotiations would prevention Medicare enrollees $1.5 cardinal successful out-of-pocket costs successful nan first year.

Experts opportunity nan 2nd information whitethorn person an moreover larger effect than past year’s since immoderate of nan narcotics connected nan database — peculiarly Ozempic and Wegovy — are becoming nan astir wide utilized and astir costly successful Medicare.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan authorities group that provides fund and economical accusation to Congress, projects that, because of negotiations, the nett value of Ozempic and Wegovy will “fall substantially” opening successful 2027 — cutting Medicare’s spending connected each diligent who uses nan narcotics by 1 third. The CBO besides expects that those little prices are apt to put unit connected different GLP-1 drugs, including Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Stacie Dusetzina, a wellness argumentation professor astatine Vanderbilt University successful Nashville, Tennessee, said it’s imaginable nan negotiations whitethorn person factored into Trump’s woody connected Wegovy and Zepbound past week.

When asked connected a telephone pinch reporters whether Trump’s woody was related to nan negotiations, elder management officials insisted it was not.

“We’re each eagerly awaiting nan announcement of what prices person been negotiated,” Dusetzina said. “It could very good beryllium that this is wherever nan negotiations landed.”

Other experts raised questions astir really Trump’s woody fits pinch nan negotiations — aliases whether nan 2 efforts are moreover aligned astatine all.

Tricia Neuman, executive head of nan programme connected Medicare argumentation astatine KFF, said it’s “not clear really nan caller White House announcement dovetails pinch nan Inflation Reduction Act erstwhile it comes to negotiated prices for GLP-1s.”

Rome said Trump’s deals are improbable to interfere aliases undermine nan speech process.

“That process is very intelligibly spelled retired by CMS and has been ongoing passim nan twelvemonth and will repetition for different 20 narcotics early adjacent year,” he said. “I don’t deliberation these broadside deals pinch Lilly and Novo will alteration that.”

Neuman added that while nan voluntary deals whitethorn beryllium drafting much attraction from nan White House, they don’t switch nan agelong word impacts of Medicare negotiations.

“The IRA’s Medicare negotiations programme is baked into nan law, and is up and running, and could yet lead to little prices for acold much narcotics complete time,” she said.