By Summer Concepcion -
NBC News
President Joe Biden will announce this Wednesday from Las Vegas (Nevada) fines against pharmaceutical companies for increasing drug prices above inflation, a measure designed to reduce co-payments for patients with health insurance, according to federal officials in a press conference. call with journalists.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in 2022, includes penalties for companies for raising the prices of certain drugs above the inflation rate for Medicare beneficiaries.
Starting in April, some beneficiaries of this insurance will see the prices of 27 prescription drugs drop, which became more expensive at the end of last year, as announced by the Department of Health.
Companies that violated the law will have to pay Medicare a refund to cover the difference.
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The Secretary of Health, Xavier Becerra, said that the list of drugs subject to reimbursement will be updated every quarter.
He added that the Inflation Reduction Act capped the price of insulin at $35 and "negotiates a fair price for more prescription drugs."
Prescription-only drugs in a file image. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
“That's good news for Americans,” Becerra said on the call with reporters.
“They will make certain generic drugs available to Medicare beneficiaries for just a $2 copay, benefiting millions,” she added.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that with this law, Medicare beneficiaries save money by not having to pay for three vaccines and caps on the price of insulin.
According to her, she said, fines to pharmaceutical companies for this reason have been collected since October.
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Brooks-LaSure explained that the agency will collect reimbursements from pharmaceutical companies until 2025, but the discount on drugs will begin to apply from April for Medicare beneficiaries.
The Department of Health will also publish a guide to its process for negotiating drug prices, according to the White House.
Biden's announcement comes a week after he presented to Congress his budget plans to finance Medicare, which include a proposal to increase taxes on the richest and improve the ability of authorities to negotiate lower prices for drugs.
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“Medicare is more than a government program.
It's the solid guarantee Americans count on when they retire,” Biden wrote in a New York Times op-ed published before he unveiled his budget plan.
Biden wrote that his proposal will build on drug pricing reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act, strengthening Medicare's "newly established bargaining power" by allowing it to "negotiate prices for more drugs and negotiate drugs ahead of launch." .