As Medicare prepares to negotiate drug prices directly with pharma companies, the White House has selected 10 drugs that make up 20% — one-fifth — of Medicare’s annual spending. Our analysis provides a deep dive into these drugs, including their costs, the number of enrollees depending on them and the significant price hikes since their…

Senate finance Committee members Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) are pushing to have a hearing to discuss the Medicare coverage of Aduhelm (aducanumab), Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s treatment, which recently won FDA approval. In a letter addressed to Senate Finance chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-ID), Warren and Cassidy express…

One of the chief objectives of various drug pricing reform efforts in recent years has been reducing Medicare costs for patients and the federal government.   Last year, CMS highlighted reductions in prices for insulin and other drugs covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D). But it is more likely that Medicare drug prices for…

With Democrats having gained control of the Senate and the presidency, some form of drug-pricing reform is likely. But with the raging COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing threats to the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are more likely to focus on those issues in the near term, according to Barrett Thornhill, a partner at the public affairs…

A federal judge in Maryland has temporarily blocked a Trump executive order that tied Medicare reimbursement for several drugs to lower rates in other countries. The executive order was facing a flurry of lawsuits.  U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sided with the plaintiffs’ argument that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not…