Pelosi drug pricing bill promises savings, but could gag R&D — CBO analysis
The Democrats’ drug pricing bill — unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month — could save Medicare spending by $345 billion over a seven-year period, a new analysis suggests. But the venomous climate of impeachment proceedings and the intensifying discord between the Democrat-controlled House and Republican-majority Senate portends the bill will unlikely ever become law.
Technically, both sides of the aisle agree drug prices in the United States need some lowering. The Democrats’ bill, H.R.3 – Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019, is engineered to empower the HHS to negotiate prices for the 125 most expensive prescription drugs without at least two competitors — the Trump administration has already backed such a measure for the Veterans Association. Under the bill, prices for this category of medicines are not intended to exceed 120% of the average price in certain other countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom), akin to a proposal floated by Trump earlier this year, which suggested prices be pegged against what other nations were paying as part of an “international pricing index”.
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