Trump administration pushes last-ditch plans to lower drug prices
The Trump administration on Friday put in motion two last-ditch efforts to deliver on the president's repeated promises to lower prescription drug costs in the U.S., announcing a new plan to implement a "most-favored nations" policy that pharmaceutical companies have decried as foreign price controls, and finalizing a rule that would eliminate certain drug rebates.
The most-favored nations plan is the latest attempt by the administration to link Medicare reimbursement for doctor-administered medicines to prices paid abroad. Now structured as a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services model, the plan would cap payments for some 50 drugs covered under Part B.
The rebate rule, by contrast, would apply to payments made by pharma companies to pharmacy benefit managers and insurance plans in Part D, which covers pharmacy drugs. The Trump administration scrapped an earlier iteration last year, only to revive it now in a post-election policy push.
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health care finance health law policy pharmaceuticals rachel sachs