Nine of the 10 negotiated drugs will see prices drop by more than 50% in 2026; the new prices are expected to save millions of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the program’s first year alone.
Republicans have made clear in Project 2025 and elsewhere that they intend to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.
Murray: “While Republicans want to give all power back to big pharma, Democrats believe that patients should be more important than drug company profits. That’s why they must continue to force these companies to the negotiating table so that Medicare can enforce lower drug prices for the American people.”
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s announcement of the results of the first Medicare drug price negotiations. Senator Murray championed Medicare negotiations for years and worked hard with her Democratic colleagues to give Medicare new authority to negotiate lower drug prices for patients in the Inflation Reduction Act – which every single Republican voted against and which leading conservative groups and lawmakers want to repeal.
“These lower drug prices that the Biden-Harris administration negotiated using the authority given to it by the Democrats will make a huge difference for countless patients when they take effect in 2026. We’re talking about price reductions of hundreds and thousands of dollars a month that will help millions of patients across the country, and the law requires that more drugs come to the negotiating table every year,” said Senator Murray. “Make no mistake: This is the biggest step we’ve taken to lower drug prices in over a decade, and not only did every single Republican vote against it, but – as Project 2025 makes clear – Republicans still plan to repeal the entire Inflation Reduction Act under a Trump administration, regardless of how much it might hurt families. While Republicans want to give all power back to the pharmaceutical industry, Democrats believe in putting patients over profits and continuing to force drug companies to the negotiating table so that Medicare can secure lower drug prices for the American people.”
Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara and NovoLog. Nine million seniors in the U.S. took these drugs in 2022, resulting in $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries. Through negotiations, Medicare reached new agreements with the manufacturers of all 10 drugs—and for nine out of 10, the new price represents a reduction of 50 percent or more. When the new, lower prices take effect in 2026, Medicare beneficiaries will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs, and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone.
Under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program, additional drugs are selected each year. Medicare will select up to 15 additional Part D drugs for negotiation in 2025, up to 15 additional Parts B and D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs each year thereafter.
Project 2025, the conservative policy roadmap that many of its former top officials have crafted for a future Trump administration, calls for repealing the Inflation Mitigation Act, as does a plan released by the Republican Study Committee. That would also mean repealing the authority to negotiate drug prices under Medicare.
A complete comparison list of the old prices with the newly negotiated prices can be found HERE in the CMS fact sheet.
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