Biden and Harris reconvene to highlight drug pricing deal

President Biden and his Vice President campaign in Maryland (Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)

By Karen Stokes

On Thursday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared together for the first time since Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign, focusing on fulfilling their promise to reduce drug costs for seniors and save Americans money.

The Inflation Reduction Act allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time in history.

According to White House.gov, American taxpayers are now expected to save $6 billion in drug costs due to Medicare's ability to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors and the disabled. Medicare beneficiaries are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have stood up to the pharmaceutical industry, and now millions of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries will soon see lower costs for some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs used to treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.

“I've waited a very, very long time for this moment,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday. “We pay more for prescription drugs, and this is no exaggeration, than any other advanced country in the world.”

Vice President Kamala Harris immediately went into campaign mode and drew attention to the new drug deals, especially since not a single Republican supported the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and it was only narrowly passed by Congress in 2022.

“Two years ago, as Vice President, I was proud to cast the deciding vote that gave Medicare the bargaining power,” Harris told the cheering crowd. “In the two years since, we have used that new power to lower the prices of life-saving drugs.”

Taxpayers spend over $50 billion annually on the ten new drugs.

The new prices will take effect in 2026 for people with Medicare Part D prescription coverage: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, Fiasp; (Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill; NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill).

These ten drugs are among those with the highest total spending in Medicare Part D. If negotiated prices took effect in 2023, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion. If negotiated prices take effect in 2026, Medicare Part D enrollees will save an estimated $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.

The new prices are expected to save taxpayers a total of $6 billion, the government said, and a total of $1.5 billion in savings for some of the 67 million people who rely on Medicare. Details of those calculations were not released, however.

Under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program, additional drugs are selected each year. Medicare will select up to 15 additional Part D drugs for negotiation in 2025, up to 15 additional Parts B and D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs each year thereafter.

The President's fiscal year 2025 budget builds on that success by significantly increasing the pace of negotiations, bringing more drugs into negotiations sooner after they come to market, extending the $2,000 prescription drug cost cap beyond Medicare into the commercial market, and taking additional measures to build on the drug provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.