Vice President Kamala Harris has announced lower costs for 10 prescription drugs as part of the first Medicare drug price negotiations. These new savings, which will come in effect in 2026, is expected to help people save $1.5 billion and American taxpayers approximately $6 billion. These selected drugs range from high-cost medications used to treat rarer conditions like blood cancers, to low-cost prescriptions that millions of Americans use to treat more common conditions like diabetes and blood clots.
Which drugs will have lower prices for Medicare?
The following 10 drugs will have their prices lowered under Medicare, as revealed by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden:
- Eliquis
- List Price: $521, Negotiated Price: $231
- Enbrel
- List Price: $7,106, Negotiated Price: $2,355
- Entresto
- List Price: $628, Negotiated Price: $295
- Farxiga
- List Price: $556, Negotiated Price: $178.50
- Fiasp
- List Price: $495, Negotiated Price: $119
- Imbruvica
- List Price: $14,934, Negotiated Price: $9,319
- Januvia
- List Price: $527, Negotiated Price: $113
- Jardiance
- List Price: $573, Negotiated Price: $197
- Stelara
- List Price: $13,836, Negotiated Price: $4,695
- Xarelto
- List Price: $517, Negotiated Price: $197
The new prices for these 10 medications are a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, that allowed Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chose this list of drugs, originally revealed in August 2023, due to them accounting for the highest Medicare spending. More drugs will be added to this list in future Medicare negotiations.
However, the difference in the list price and negotiated price for each drug does not take into account discounts and rebates that Medicare insurance plans already take after pharmacy benefit managers negotiate with health insurers. PMCA, a trade group that represents pharmacy benefit managers, stated that its members actually receive deeper discounts on 6 of the 10 drugs listed, in a piece by Politico.
In other political news, hacked Donald Trump docs have revealed other VP picks apart from JD Vance. He also called Kamala Harris “beautiful” in his Elon Musk interview.
