Here’s What To Expect From Trump’s 2PM Speech On Drug Prices
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.comFri, 05/11/2018
President Trump is expected to outline a “comprehensive” plan to tackle drug affordability in a major address on prescription drug prices at 2 p.m. today. In a Thursday night call with reporters, senior administration officials offered a preview of today’s “American Patients First” blueprint, outlining their general strategies.
The plan is expected to:
“… aim to increase competition by ending ‘the gaming of rules’ by brand-name drug manufacturers that stymies the introduction of cost-saving generic and biosimilar drugs.
“… seek to improve negotiation within the Medicare program, but not by using the government’s clout to negotiate for Medicare as Trump has previously proposed. It would create unspecified incentives for lower list prices of drugs and would lower out-of-pocket spending by patients.”
Lobbyists and industry insiders think Trump will take particular aim at middlemen known as “pharmacy benefit managers” (PBMs) – who negotiate drug coverages, payments and rebates between insurers and drug makers.
Here’s what PBMs are watching most nervously: Whether Trump aims at narrowing the spread between high list prices and the secret, rebate prices insurers actually pay by limiting rebates to a percentage of the list price. -WaPo
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