CBO re­port high­lights ris­ing cost of brand-name drugs in Medicare as Con­gress con­sid­ers price ne­go­ti­a­tions

As the De­moc­rats’ big shot at ma­jor drug pric­ing re­form hangs in the bal­ance, the Con­gres­sion­al Bud­get Of­fice has re­leased a new re­port show­ing the av­er­age net price of brand-name pre­scrip­tion drugs in Medicare Part D more than dou­bled from 2009 to 2018.

Over­all, the av­er­age net price of a pre­scrip­tion — the cost af­ter dis­counts and re­bates giv­en to pri­vate in­sur­ers and fed­er­al pro­grams — fell from $57 in 2009 to $50 in 2018 in the Medicare Part D pro­gram and from $63 to $48 in the Med­ic­aid pro­gram, ac­cord­ing to the CBO’s lat­est pre­scrip­tion drug spend­ing, use and pric­ing re­port. That par­tial­ly re­flects the in­creased use and falling av­er­age price of gener­ic drugs.

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