Associated
Press November 05, 2019
The White House has concluded that House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi's plan authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices is
"unworkable" and President Donald Trump will instead support
bipartisan legislation in the Senate, a senior White House official said
Tuesday.
Despite the House impeachment inquiry , the
White House and top aides to the California Democrat have been in regular
communication on efforts to curb drug prices, a mutual objective. Prospects for
legislation this year appear dim.
The official said that while Trump is not
ideologically opposed to Medicare negotiating prices for medicines, Pelosi's
approach can't be quickly retooled.
Her bill would levy steep taxes on drug makers
who refuse to accept a Medicare price keyed to what's paid in other
economically advanced countries. The senior White House official pointed to the
lack of Republican support for the Pelosi bill and said it is structured to
essentially give Medicare the power to dictate prices.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to
discuss ongoing deliberations.
Trump is instead backing a bipartisan bill from
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. That legislation would
for the first time limit what seniors have to pay out of their own pockets for
medications. It would also require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if
they hike prices beyond the inflation rate. Those ideas are also part of
Pelosi's more ambitious legislation.
But the Grassley-Wyden bill does not give
Medicare negotiating power.
Aides to the House speaker have said that her
bill would give Trump precisely what he had asked for as a presidential
candidate, when he broke with other Republicans to back negotiating authority
for Medicare. Under the legislation that created Medicare's prescription drug
program, price negotiations are handled privately by insurers and their
pharmacy benefit managers.
The White House official said the administration
is working with Grassley and Wyden on improving their bill, by adding special
provisions to address the escalating cost of insulin, which is used to treat
diabetes, and by exploring a monthly limit on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare
recipients.
A study published Monday found that more than
half of seriously ill Medicare enrollees face financial hardships with medical
bills, and prescription drug costs are the leading problem.
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