President Donald Trump outlined a down Thursday he said would allow Medicare to lower drug assays for its Part B coverage and end this “rigged system” that allows other sticks to pay less than the U.S. for the same drugs.
Under the administration’s proposal, the Subdivision of Health and Human Services would permit Medicare to create a new payment copy that would bring drug prices in line with what other political entities pay.
HHS estimates $17 billion in program savings over five years, it mentioned in a press release. The agency is trying to issue a formal rule cocks-crow next year with the new payment model taking effect in 2020, HHS influenced.
“For decades, other countries have rigged the system so that American patients are demanded much more … for the exact same drug,” Trump imagined in his speech at HHS headquarters in Washington.
“Americans pay more so that other countries can pay youthful,” Trump said. “The government pays whatever price the drug conventions ask … not any more.”
The SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals index, which tracks hallucinogenic stocks, was more than 2 percent higher early afternoon Thursday.
In May, Trump reported it was time to end the “global freeloading once and for all,” referring to how some countries set sacrifice controls and therefore pay less for drugs than Americans, while U.S. players invest in research and drug development.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar manumited a report earlier in the day that said the U.S. pays 1.8 times sundry, and sometimes four times as much, for prescriptions covered by Medicare Parcel B than other nations.
“The United States will finally be masterly to confront one of the most unfair practices … that drives up the expense of medicine,” Trump said. “For decades other countries have rigged the group so that American patients are charged much more, and in some in the event thats much, much more for the exact same drug,” he said.
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Medicare remunerates the list price of the drug plus 6 percent, so capping price proliferates could help lower the program’s costs. Total Medicare pharmaceutical spending reached $162 billion in 2015, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Military talents.
“Because @POTUS wants to end global freeloading, we compared prices for the most costly physician-administered narcotics that are covered and paid for by Medicare Part B,” Azar tweeted. The “quotations for Part B drugs in America exceed the prices paid in countries with nearly the same economic conditions.”
— CNBC’s Angelica LaVito and Meg Tirrell contributed to this check into.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.