WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2021) US President Joe Biden is set to urge Congress later on Thursday to take measures to lower prices for prescription drugs as part of his plan to make medical care more affordable, the White House said on Thursday.
"Today, President Biden is laying out his vision for reducing the high cost of prescription drugs. As part of his Build Back Better agenda, he's calling on Congress to address this crisis and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, significantly reducing costs for millions of Americans," White House said in a release.
The new plan includes measures to ensure Medicare can negotiate prices for a group of expensive drugs that are not subject to any market competition, the release said.
The new drug price policy will also penalize those drug companies that raise their prices faster than inflation and establish a maximum amount that Medicare beneficiaries have to pay out-of-pocket for prescription drugs each year, according to the release.
In 2019, Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden reached a deal on a bipartisan bill, which was never passed, to cut drug prices, which limited price increases for prescription drugs to the rate of inflation but did not envisage an option for Medicare to negotiate lower prices.
