Press Release:
With more than 3.8 million seniors in New York on Medicare, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced today that Medicare has reached new, lower, and fairer negotiated prices with 10 of the highest-spend drugs in Medicare thanks to a major provision Schumer secured in the Inflation Reduction Act that for the first time allows the federal government to directly negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
Schumer said the 10 highly common drugs treat a variety of conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and once the new prices go into effect in 2026 are expected to save seniors over $1.5 billion every year in out of pocket costs. This will also help save taxpayers nearly $6 billion every year.
“This is historic and will lower drug costs for over 660,000 New Yorkers. For too long, New York seniors have struggled to afford their prescription drugs and were powerless to do anything about it. The drug cost what the pharmaceutical company said it did and that was that. New Yorkers wanted fair negotiations with Big Pharma, and because of the Inflation Reduction Act, they got it. For the first time in history, Medicare has negotiated better and fairer prices for 10 high cost commonly taken prescription drugs that cover heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more,” said Senator Schumer. “This means money back in the pockets of the more than 660,000 New Yorkers who take them - putting patients and NY seniors ahead of Big Pharma profits.”
Seniors in America are paying higher prices than anywhere else in the world for commonly-taken drugs. Nationally, one-in-five seniors recently reported forgoing medication, skipping doses or cutting pills in half because they could not afford their drugs.
For many of the most commonly taken drugs, pharmaceutical companies have maintained monopolistic prices by successfully preventing generic versions of their drugs, keeping competition off the market and prices high for patients. The new Medicare negotiation program targets exactly these types of drugs and is designed to get at this very problem.
This year, Medicare selected for negotiation the 10 highest spending drugs in Medicare Part D that do not have generic versions of their drugs but are eligible for such competition.
Next year, Medicare will select another 15 Part D drugs for negotiation. In 2027, it will negotiate another 15 drugs while also expanding negotiation to Medicare Part B, which covers drugs administered in a physician’s office. In 2028 and every year after, Medicare will negotiate a new set of 20 drugs. 50 million Americans are enrolled in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, over 3 million of which are in New York.
“Lowering healthcare costs for seniors is just what the doctor ordered. I wrote my Inflation Reduction Act with the sky-high costs of health care in mind, because I know how important it is to ensure that everyone can access the medication they need,” added Schumer.
Schumer said these new Medicare drug negotiated prices will work in tandem with other major drug affordability provisions he secured in his Inflation Reduction Act, including a cap on total out-of-pocket drug costs that drops to $2,000 per year starting in January, making vaccines free for seniors and a $35 insulin cap for those on Medicare, to help make healthcare more affordable for more than 3.8 million New York seniors on Medicare.
