Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to reduce the prices of 15 drugs in the US health care program (Medicare) after months of negotiations, cuts that are expected to achieve billions in savings for taxpayers and the elderly, according to the administration of US President Donald Trump.
But the net prices revealed by data for a 30-day supply of each drug for this program are not what Medicare beneficiaries will actually pay, because what they will pay will depend on the nature of each individual’s subscription and how much he or she spends on prescriptions in a given year.
For his part, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy praised these agreements as part of the administration’s efforts to address Americans’ concerns about the affordability of health care.
It is noteworthy that the program to negotiate prices for the supply of Medicare drugs, which allowed access to these agreements, is legally binding, and it began during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
“President Trump has directed us to stop at nothing to reduce health care costs for the American people,” Kennedy said in a statement. “As we work to restore health in America, we will use everything we can to provide affordable health care to seniors,” he added.
This announcement marks the end of a second round of negotiations under a law passed in 2022, allowing the Medicare program to negotiate the price it pays for the most famous and most expensive prescription medications used by older Americans, bringing the total prices of the medications under negotiation to 25 medications. The prices for the new round of negotiations will enter into force in 2027. As for the reduced prices for the opening round of 10 medications, which the Biden administration negotiated last year, they will enter into force next January.