{"id":2325549,"date":"2024-08-16T07:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T11:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-biden-doesnt-want-you-knowing-about-drug-price-controls\/"},"modified":"2024-08-16T07:43:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T11:43:45","slug":"what-biden-doesnt-want-you-knowing-about-drug-price-controls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-biden-doesnt-want-you-knowing-about-drug-price-controls\/","title":{"rendered":"What Biden Doesn&#8217;t Want You Knowing About Drug Price Controls"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-biden-doesnt-want-you-knowing-about-drug-price-controls%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2325549&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On the\u200c second anniversary\u200c of the Inflation Reduction Act \u2062(IRA), the Biden administration announced Medicare&#8217;s\u200c anticipated savings from negotiations\u2062 with\u200c pharmaceutical companies, \u200cpredicting a $6 billion reduction in drug \u200bcosts and\u2064 an additional $1.5 billion saved by seniors in 2026. However, critics argue that these\u200b negotiations are unfair, likening them to extortion,\u2062 as pharmaceutical companies face exorbitant taxes if they opt out \u2063of participating. \u200c <\/p>\n<p>Although the administration claims that the IRA will save costs for Medicare, nearly $255 billion from the\u2062 program \u200bhas\u2062 been redirected to \u2064fund unrelated initiatives, \u2062including\u200b climate projects and increased staffing for \u200cthe \u2062IRS, rather than \u200cbenefiting seniors. Critics contend that this misappropriation\u200c undermines Medicare&#8217;s financial stability, suggesting it is being used\u200b as\u200d a source of funding \u200dfor broader \u200dgovernment spending.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the administration has initiated a costly bailout for insurance companies to stabilize premiums, estimated to \u200bcost $5 billion this year alone, \u2064which surpasses the projected savings from drug negotiations. \u2063Opponents of the\u200c IRA stress that these \u2063price controls will likely \u200bstifle\u2064 pharmaceutical innovation, leading to fewer new drugs being developed in \u200cthe future.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Thursday, the Biden administration marked the second anniversary of the passage of the so-called Inflation (Reduction) Act (IRA) by announcing the results of the first round of &ldquo;negotiations&rdquo; between Medicare and pharmaceutical manufacturers. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/negotiating-lower-drug-prices-works-saves-billions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announcement<\/a>, Medicare will save an estimated $6 billion on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-warns-bidens-build-back-better-agenda-a-direct-assault-on-the-health-of-americans\/\" title=\"GOP Warns Biden&#039;s Build Back Better Agenda a &#039;Direct Assault&#039; on the Health of Americans\">selected prescription drugs<\/a> in 2026, when the price controls take effect, with seniors saving another $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.<\/p>\n<p>But as with many things in Washington, things aren&rsquo;t what they appear. For starters, these &ldquo;negotiations&rdquo; were conducted on anything but a level playing field. As <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/06\/3-truths-debunking-democrats-narrative-about-prescription-drug-negotiations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted previously<\/a>, these &ldquo;negotiations&rdquo; included a maximum price the government must pay &mdash; meaning price controls &mdash; with companies that do not want to participate in this rigged process facing the option of taxes of <a href=\"https:\/\/taxfoundation.org\/blog\/prescription-drug-pricing-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">up to 1,900 percent<\/a> of the revenue of the products in question or dropping out of the Medicare and Medicaid programs entirely.<\/p>\n<p>To put it bluntly, &ldquo;the program represents a &lsquo;negotiation&rsquo; in the same way a robber &lsquo;negotiates&rsquo; with employees at the bank.&rdquo; Other elements of this process to establish socialist-style price controls make it far less ideal than advertised.<\/p>\n<h2>Democrats Used the Cash Grab to Fund Climate Pork<\/h2>\n<p>As noted, the administration claimed Medicare will save money from the &ldquo;negotiations.&rdquo; But where will that money go? Not to seniors, that&rsquo;s for sure.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2022-09\/PL117-169_9-7-22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Congressional Budget Office<\/a>, the IRA cut Medicare spending by a net $254.8 billion. That money didn&rsquo;t go back into Medicare but instead funded other programs created in the law, such as myriad <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/democrats-use-medicare-as-a-piggy-bank-11616624520\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">climate pork projects<\/a> and money for 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service employees to audit taxpayers (including seniors).<\/p>\n<p>The left will try to claim the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdogs-warn-ohios-gold-standard-voter-rolls-tarnished\/\" title=\"Watchdogs Warn Ohio&#039;s &#039;Gold Standard&#039; Voter Rolls Tarnished\">law doesn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t reduce Medicare benefits, which misses the point entirely. The law takes dollars dedicated to helping seniors and instead spends that money on other totally unrelated projects. At a time the Medicare program remains <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/10\/fact-check-medicare-is-already-functionally-insolvent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">functionally insolvent<\/a>, Democrats&rsquo; raid actively harmed seniors by diverting dollars that could have been used to bolster the program&rsquo;s solvency.<\/p>\n<p>As harmful as they were, Congress&rsquo;s actions in 2022 echoed what Democrat lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2012\/08\/14\/romneys-right-obamacare-cuts-medicare-by-716-billion-heres-how\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">did with Obamacare<\/a> a dozen years before that and have proposed in other contexts as well: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/democrats-use-medicare-as-a-piggy-bank-11616624520\">raiding Medicare<\/a> to pay for other government spending. For the left, Medicare is much less a solemn obligation to seniors than it is a slush fund designed to be pillaged to expand government elsewhere.<\/p>\n<h2>Biden Bails Out Insurers with Taxpayer Billions<\/h2>\n<p>In the past few weeks, the Biden administration had to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/fact-sheets\/cms-releases-2025-medicare-part-d-bid-information-and-announces-premium-stabilization-demonstration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announce<\/a> a &ldquo;demonstration project&rdquo; &mdash; i.e., government bailout &mdash; designed to &ldquo;stabilize&rdquo; premiums due to changes resulting from the IRA. A combination of richer benefits and structural changes in the law meant that many standalone prescription drug plans apparently submitted much higher premium proposals for next year. As a result, the administration <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/12\/medicare-agency-just-gave-kamala-harris-an-in-kind-contribution-with-your-tax-dollars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hatched an insurer bailout<\/a> to prevent massive premium hikes from landing in seniors&rsquo; mailboxes weeks before the November election.<\/p>\n<p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/politico-pulse\/2024\/08\/12\/bidens-billion-dollar-medicare-bet-00173574\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estimated<\/a> the bailout will cost $5 billion this year alone, just about wiping out all of this year&rsquo;s supposed &ldquo;savings&rdquo; from the drug &ldquo;negotiations.&rdquo; Moreover, the &ldquo;demonstration&rdquo; project is scheduled to last another two years, meaning the final cost could come to $15 billion or more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the cost of this bailout won&rsquo;t stop Democrats from spending all the supposed Medicare &ldquo;savings&rdquo; from the IRA on green pork, IRS agents, and other projects. Likewise, Democrats seem uninterested in the inconvenient-to-them fact that this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-iran-deal-will-bring-tehran-even-closer-to-the-nuclear-threshold-analysis-finds\/\" title=\"Analysis finds Biden&#039;s Iran deal will bring Tehran closer to nuclear threshold.\">multibillion-dollar bailout<\/a> is of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/b-323170.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">questionable legality<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Price Controls Will Mean Fewer Drugs<\/h2>\n<p>It might surprise those on the left, but companies and investors generally respond to incentives. When the federal government decides to pay less for drugs, it will get fewer drugs in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Estimates vary on the degree to which the IRA&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harris-outshines-biden-at-joint-rally-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Harris outshines Biden at joint rally - Washington Examiner\">drug pricing provisions<\/a> will affect pharmaceutical research, but they don&rsquo;t vary on the direction &mdash; all signs point to fewer new drugs being created. The Congressional Budget Office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2022-09\/PL117-169_9-7-22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concluded<\/a> that more than a dozen fewer drugs will get developed. Another <a href=\"https:\/\/cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com\/voices.uchicago.edu\/dist\/d\/3128\/files\/2021\/08\/Issue-Brief-Drug-Pricing-in-HR-5376-11.30.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">independent estimate<\/a> of legislation similar to the IRA put the number at well over 100. Companies have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-inflation-reduction-act-killing-potential-cures-pharmaceutical-companies-treatment-patients-drugs-prescriptions-ira-manufacturers-11667508291\">already<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/opinion\/inflation-reduction-act-drug-price-controls-james-foster-charles-river-laboratories-joe-biden-kamala-harris-0e3af291?mod=opinion_lead_pos1\">announced<\/a> ways they are scaling back investments in response to the law&rsquo;s price controls because, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/seagen-david-epstein-cancer-drug-study-inflation-reduction-act-biden-price-controls-231ee740\">one CEO put it<\/a>, &ldquo;there will be no economic return from doing&rdquo; more research.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the IRA will lead to one fewer drug, 100 fewer drugs, or 1,000 fewer drugs, the drug not created is the one that could save your life. Of course, often people won&rsquo;t know if the IRA prevented a treatment that could have helped them. While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want voters to believe they will get &ldquo;free&rdquo; savings, the American people will pay for the IRA for years to come, both in years of their lives through higher costs and lives not saved through drugs never developed.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/game-show-judges-assess-players-on-their-unknown-knowledge\/\" title=\"Game Show Judges Assess Players on Their Unknown Knowledge\">policy consulting firm based<\/a> in Washington, and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He appeared in the 1995 &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; Teen Tournament and is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, the Biden administration celebrated the second anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by revealing the outcomes of initial \u201cnegotiations\u201d between Medicare and drug manufacturers. The announcement indicated that Medicare is projected to save around $6 billion on certain prescription medications in 2026, when price controls are implemented, with seniors expected to save an additional $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses. However, as is often the case in Washington, appearances can be misleading. <\/p>\n<p>Firstly, these \u201cnegotiations\u201d were far from equitable. As previously mentioned, they involved a maximum price set by the government\u2014essentially imposing price controls\u2014where companies unwilling to engage in this skewed process could face taxes up to 1,900% on their product revenues or risk exiting Medicare and Medicaid entirely. To put it bluntly, this situation resembles a scenario where a robber \u201cnegotiates\u201d with bank employees.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, while the administration claims that Medicare will benefit financially from these negotiations, it raises questions about where those savings will actually go\u2014not back into supporting seniors for sure. The Congressional Budget Office reported that the IRA resulted in a net reduction of $254.8 billion in Medicare spending; however, those funds did not return to bolster Medicare but instead financed other initiatives within the law such as various climate projects and funding for 87,000 new IRS agents tasked with auditing taxpayers (including seniors).<\/p>\n<p>The left may argue that this law does not diminish Medicare benefits; however, this misses a crucial point: it reallocates funds meant for senior support towards unrelated projects at a time when Medicare is already facing insolvency issues. This diversion actively undermines seniors by taking away resources that could have strengthened program sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>Congress&#8217;s actions echo past Democratic strategies seen during Obamacare and similar proposals: using Medicare funds for other governmental expenditures rather than treating it as an essential commitment to seniors.<\/p>\n<p>Recently announced was a so-called &#8220;demonstration project&#8221;\u2014essentially another government bailout aimed at stabilizing premiums due to changes brought about by IRA provisions. With enhanced benefits and structural adjustments leading many standalone prescription drug plans to propose significantly higher premiums for next year, this bailout aims to prevent substantial premium increases from reaching seniors just before elections.<\/p>\n<p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that this bailout will cost approximately $5 billion just this year alone\u2014effectively negating any supposed savings from drug negotiations\u2014and could total over $15 billion over its two-year duration.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these costs associated with bailouts being significant concerns for Democrats\u2019 spending plans\u2014including green initiatives and IRS expansions\u2014they seem unconcerned about potential legal issues surrounding such multibillion-dollar bailouts.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally concerning are implications of price controls on future pharmaceutical development; generally speaking companies respond predictably to financial incentives or disincentives set forth by federal policies like those established under IRA\u2019s pricing rules which are likely lead fewer new drugs being developed moving forward according estimates ranging widely but consistently indicating reductions\u2014from more than twelve fewer drugs according CBO projections up into hundreds based on independent assessments related similar legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately whether it&#8217;s one less drug or potentially thousands fewer created due directly impact lives saved through treatments never realized remains uncertain until too late when individuals may find themselves without options they might have otherwise had if not stifled innovation resulting from restrictive pricing measures imposed under current legislation designed ostensibly provide immediate relief yet carries long-term consequences both economically personally health-wise American populace overall who may bear brunt costs incurred years down line through higher prices lost opportunities life-saving medications never produced because disincentivized research development efforts curtailed industry response unfavorable regulatory environment fostered recent policy shifts initiated current administration\u2019s agenda priorities Chris Jacobs founder CEO Juniper Research Group author book &#8220;Case Against Single Payer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2325550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/President-Biden-and-VP-Kamala.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[3620,38326,4606,5894,12404],"class_list":["post-2325549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-biden","tag-drug-price-controls","tag-healthcare","tag-politics","tag-transparency"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/President-Biden-and-VP-Kamala.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2325549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2325550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2325549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2325549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2325549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}