Last December the US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill known as H.R.3 (called the Lower Drug Costs Now Act) – a policy intervention that would allow Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on drug prices.
H.R. 3 would not only lower the cost of drugs for Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries, but it would help everyone because manufacturers would be required to offer the lower negotiated prices to group and individual health insurance plans too. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 3 would lower drug prices by an average of 55% and save Medicare $456 billion over 10 years.
So far, the US Senate has refused to bring H.R. 3 to the floor. In other words, Senators haven’t even had the opportunity to consider the law- and as a result- Medicare is still forbidden from negotiating drug prices on our behalf.
This week, Senator McSally proposed an alternative prescription drug bill. There are a few big differences between the bills. The new Senate bill would prohibit Medicare from negotiating drug prices that have existing patents. This is an important difference because the most expensive drugs that are costing Medicare and patients the most are those that are under patent, so the new plan wouldn’t help with the meds that matter the most.
H.R. 3 requires drug companies to offer the prices negotiated with Medicare to extend to group and individual health insurance plans too. McSally’s new bill doesn’t include this important provision, and the 44% percent of Arizonans that are covered by private and employer based insurance wouldn’t benefit from any new negotiated prices on non patent drugs.
Chances are that H.R. 3 will remain in McConnell’s in box and McSally’s new Bill may or may not get debated and go to the floor. We’ll probably need to wait until the outcome of the election to see whether the American people will finally get meaningful prescription drug cost relief.
