Caitlin Owens, Jonathan Swan November 25,
2019
The Trump administration
is pushing ahead with its drug pricing agenda even as impeachment sucks up all
the political oxygen, with plans to advance some of its most ambitious
regulations and to work with Congress on legislation.
Why it matters:
Drug pricing remains a huge issue that both parties want to run
on in 2020. For Trump, there's a lot of pressure: His most ambitious proposals
have either been tabled, are tied up in the courts or have yet to be
implemented.
Driving the
news: The administration is planing to have the next regulatory phase
of the international pricing index — a notice of proposed rulemaking
— ready to issue within a month, a senior administration official said.
·
That leaves plenty of time for the industry to kill the
proposal, but it's a signal that the administration isn't yet backing down from
the proposal in the face of intense opposition from the drug industry.
·
The administration has also been working with states on
potential rules to allow drugs to be imported from other countries.
The administration
is also working with Congress on drug pricing legislation, and thinks
that it's still possible that the Senate passes a bill by the end of the year.
·
The official said that the administration is working with Sens. Chuck
Grassley and Ron Wyden to add a monthly cap on what seniors pay out-of-pocket
for drugs through Medicare.
·
The administration also wants change the way that bill would
take money from drugmakers, to address industry concerns that it would hit some
drugs and therapeutic areas harder than others.
The bottom
line: Trump certainly has a political incentive to get something done
on drug prices, but some of these policies could go a long way toward helping
Americans — especially seniors — afford their drugs.
Yes, but: These
administrative actions haven't yet been formally proposed, and could take years
to finalize — meaning there's no guarantee they'll actually happen before the
2020 election.
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