“Big Pharma charges Americans three times more than they do in other countries, just because they can. I find this outrageous.” Biden told an audience at the White House that these negotiations are important.
“We’re going to keep standing up to Big Pharma and we’re not gonna back down.”
The drugs, announced Tuesday by the White House, were chosen based on their eligibility under the Inflation Reduction Act and they account for an estimated $50.5 billion in total gross Medicare Part D costs.
“Finally, finally, finally we had enough votes — by a matter of one — to beat Big Pharma,” Biden said. “We passed the Inflation Reduction Act with no help from the other team.”
“There’s a lot of really great Republicans out there… but we’ll stand up to the MAGA Republicans who voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and now are attempting to still repeal it. He added that the MAGA Republicans, who have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act for years, are denying tens and millions of Americans quality, affordable healthcare. “They tell us we’re failing and that America is failing.” Well they’re wrong, America isn’t failing, America is winning,” Biden said.
Negotiations over these drugs will take place in 2023 and 2024, and drugmakers have until Oct. 1 to sign agreements, according to the law. Industry groups, however, are seeking an order to stop the process in the face of various legal attempts to block the law. Even if it goes forward as planned, actual savings would not kick in until 2026.
“Negotiating drug prices… isn’t just going to put more money in the pockets of millions of Americans across the country, its also going to lower the federal deficit,” Biden said. The White House released a memo on Tuesday criticizing House Republicans who were pursuing “handouts”, and for trying to repeal the plan for drug negotiations. All rights reserved.
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