LARGO, MD — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris rallied around the government’s release of the negotiated prices for the first 10 drugs impacted by a historic drug pricing law.
But the key figures offered by the administration on Thursday — $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket savings for Medicare patients, and $6 billion for the Medicare program — can’t be verified because the government isn’t releasing the confidential net prices that include rebates and discounts.
The Biden administration’s announcement details deep reductions — in some cases, nearly 80% — to list prices for the drugs. But very few Americans with health insurance actually pay those amounts, which are heavily negotiated by insurers and PBMs.
While it’s impossible to verify how much the discounts contribute to the claimed savings, academics and consultants have offered estimates. They suggest that some drugs on the list make up a large portion of the savings,
