HHS Rallies Behind Drug Price Negotiation, Part D Reform

Sep 16
Sep 16, 2021

As Congress considers expanding Medicare benefits through the budget reconciliation process, a new HHS report expresses the agency’s support for “bold legislative action” to bring down drug prices and outlines a “comprehensive” plan that includes several administrative actions it could take to promote competition among drug companies. Notably, the report calls for legislation allowing HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers for coverage under the Medicare Parts B and D programs and to make those prices available to other payers, and the exploration of various concepts by the CMS Innovation Center.

The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation on Sept. 9 issued the report in response to President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which called for a multitude of actions from HHS, including lowering the prices of and improving access to prescription drugs and biosimilars. Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering adding dental, hearing and vision benefits to fee-for-service Medicare as part of a $3.5 trillion spending package that Senate Democrats aim to pass via budget reconciliation, and drug pricing has been viewed as a way to pay for those enhancements.
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Lauren Flynn Kelly

Lauren has been covering health business issues since the early 2000s and specializes in in-depth reporting on Medicare Advantage, managed Medicaid and Medicare Part D. She also possesses a deep understanding of the complex world of pharmacy benefit management, having written AIS Health’s Radar on Drug Benefits from 2004 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2016. In addition to her role as managing editor of Radar on Medicare Advantage, she oversees AIS Health’s publications and manages the health editorial staff. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in English.