When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, his administration promised it would make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible for seniors.
Yet the results tell a different story.
A recent analysis found that nearly one in four initial attempts by patients to fill a prescription for one of the first drugs selected for Medicare’s drug price negotiation program was rejected. Patients relying on immunology and oncology treatments felt this even more intensely, with rejection rates climbing as high as 59 percent and 67 percent, respectively.
The lesson from the Inflation Reduction Act and other countries around the world is simple: Government drug price controls do not improve patient access. In many cases, price controls create incentives to ration care and empower government bureaucrats at the expense of patients and the development of new therapies.