Medicare’s drug price controls could restrict Americans’ ability to access care and potentially drive up costs in the long term, according to analysts.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in August 2022, authorized the U.S. federal government to negotiate prices for certain high-cost prescription drugs covered by Medicare through the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. While congressional Democrats previously claimed the IRA would help bring down healthcare prices, analysts warned the Daily Caller News Foundation that such price controls might limit some patients’ access to certain prescription medicines and impose cost burdens on Americans.