New polling confirms what seniors and health care experts have long feared: the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is poised to stifle drug innovation and limit access to lifesaving drugs. With their health on the line, seniors overwhelmingly want Congress to step in and pass the bipartisan legislation to undo the damage Biden did to Medicare.
The Biden “Pill Penalty” is the direct result of the IRA’s misguided approach to Medicare drug pricing, allowing the federal government to set the price of certain medications. Under the Biden Pill Penalty, shots or infusions can be in the market for 13 years before being subjected to government price setting, while cutting-edge “small molecule” medicines, which typically come in pill or capsule form, are subject to price setting after only 9 years on the market.
These small-molecule medicines are the pill and tablet medications that millions of seniors rely on for chronic conditions like cancer. They are easy to take, widely available at local pharmacies, and generally more affordable than complex biologic treatments. Yet, the IRA’s flawed policies are already driving private sector investment away from these lifesaving medicines.