AHA comments on drug pricing bill under consideration in the House

The AHA today submitted comments to House leaders on the Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3), legislation that would make a series of changes to the Medicare program in an effort to lower the price of prescription drugs.
 
“H.R. 3 offers several solutions that will help hold drug manufacturers accountable,” AHA said. “Specifically, we commend your work to reform the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program by eliminating the coverage gap, capping out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries and placing more responsibility on both health insurers and drug manufacturers — directly benefiting consumers at the pharmacy counter.” AHA also praised the inclusion of mandatory inflationary rebates for both Medicare Part B and Part D drugs and said it “makes sense to allow Medicare to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers on the price of drugs.”
 
However, AHA also expressed concern with language in the legislation that would allow the commercial market access to the Health and Human Services-negotiated price. “Specifically, the AHA does not support government-rate setting in the commercial market,” the association said. “Instead, we encourage Congress to focus on ways to balance incentives for innovation with provisions that allow for more fair pricing and negotiations.” Specifically, AHA said it supports provisions “that would provide hospitals and other purchasers with more information about drug development costs to help them negotiate prices with drug manufacturers, as well as provisions that would resolve anti-competitive issues that have allowed drug manufacturers to extend patents and market exclusivity periods beyond what was envisioned to incentivize innovation.”
 
The House Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee, and Education and Labor Committee each approved similar versions of the bill. The bills must be reconciled before they go to the House floor for a vote, which will likely be next month.