Palo Alto, California – Ranking Member Anna G. Eshoo (CA-16), Health Subcommittee Chair, today welcomed the Biden administration’s historic announcement that Medicare has successfully negotiated lower prices for 10 of the most expensive prescription drugs, saving Medicare patients $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year alone.

“Today we delivered on the promise to lower prescription drug costs for Americans when we passed the Inflation Reduction Act two years ago. I am very proud to have helped craft this historic provision that finally gave Medicare the authority to negotiate and also implemented other policies that are already saving Medicare patients money, such as free vaccinations, a $35-a-month cap on insulin, and the policy that no Medicare beneficiary can pay a penny more than $2,000 a year for their prescription drugs. Now, for the first time in our history, this groundbreaking legislation has allowed Medicare to negotiate lower prices on ten of the most expensive and commonly used drugs. Patients will feel the benefits in the form of over $1.5 billion in savings on prescription drug out-of-pocket costs in the first year alone,” said Rep. Eshoo. “Nine of the ten drugs for which Medicare negotiated lower costs will now be available to Medicare patients at prices more than 50 percent lower than in previous years. This is a milestone in reducing health care costs for Americans.”

In 2022, the United States spent $4.5 trillion on healthcare, which accounts for nearly 20% of the U.S. economy. Drug prices in the U.S. are about three times higher than in other countries. Inflation Reduction Actsigned into law by President Biden in 2022 gave Medicare the authority to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies. The total cost of the ten drugs – Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, Fiasp – was $56.2 billion in 2023. Had the new negotiated prices been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion.

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