9/25/2023 0 Comments Kite pharma jobsLike, even those groups that seem like they're representing only patients for a certain disease - they are. And it's also - and this is other prior reporting that I've done in this area - you know, patient advocacy groups. And it's not just lobbying, it's campaign contributions. LUPKIN: I mean, the short answer is lobbying, right? Like, the pharmaceutical industry is and has been among the biggest spenders on lobbying on Capitol Hill year after year after year. So how did all of those presidents fail to get it done, but now Biden is in the East Room celebrating? Presidents from both parties have been talking about trying to do something like this for literally decades, from former President Bill Clinton to Obama to Trump. And even though, you know, others have tried to fix that, it just hasn't happened. But for decades, it sort of stayed like this. But those are usually confidential, so kind of tricky to fact check. The industry would say that it gets a lot less for drugs than that number thanks to things like rebates for drugmakers that the drugmakers pay back to the government. So we're talking about more than $200 billion worth of drugs. So that's a group that also takes a lot of drugs. And that serves, like, 50 million seniors. LUPKIN: One of the reasons that this is so huge is that Medicare Part D was created in 2003 by a Republican-led Congress, and they barred the program from negotiating drug prices for Medicare Part D. This is something that the White House is really trying to showcase and advertise and make a big deal out of, to Sidney's point, because this is something tangible that a lot of people will start to feel their cost going down as the cost of these drugs, which are very expensive, go down. You had a number of Democratic supporters in there who were applauding at several points. And so this announcement yesterday kind of ties into part of that.Īnd they did have a big announcement. That was something that the administration kept talking to. One part of it, though, that we did hear get a lot of applause - Biden has been talking about it Vice President Harris has been talking about it - is capping the cost of insulin. We weren't all looking at the Medicare aspect of this specifically. But when that act was signed, you know, it was kind of advertised as a climate bill, a big climate bill, a big jobs bill. When we heard Inflation Reduction Act, it meant a lot of things. There was a lot of fanfare, perhaps more fanfare than this policy got when it was originally passed as part of that big, amorphous law known as the Inflation Reduction Act. KEITH: Deepa, you were at the White House yesterday. LUPKIN: That covers medications at the pharmacy counter. KEITH: And to be clear, Medicare Part D is the part of Medicare that covers medications. And if you figure the program spends, you know, north of $200 billion, that's still a huge, huge chunk of how much Medicare Part D is spending on just 10 drugs out of the thousands that it covers. And they make up a big chunk of Medicare Part D spending - somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 billion. So they're like blood thinners like Eliquis and Xarelto. And these are drugs that, not surprisingly, a lot of older Americans who are on Medicare take. LUPKIN: Sure, so the Biden administration announced the first 10 drugs that Medicare will finally be able to actually negotiate their prices. KEITH: So Sydney, tell us about the announcement. We're going to keep standing up to Big Pharma, and we're not going to back down. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: We're going to see this through. And on that front, President Biden made a big announcement yesterday. KEITH: So in the current polarized political landscape, there are not a lot of policy ideas that are almost universally popular, but allowing the federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices is one of them. KEITH: And NPR's pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin is here. KEITH: So I feel a kindred spirit with her. You know, I will say last night, for the first time in maybe 20 years, I picked up my bass guitar, and I practiced for, like, an hour. I feel like every music kid, every band kid can relate to that. SHIVARAM: I was going to say, I wonder what she's learning with. KEITH: I would like to hear her ukulele playing. (SOUNDBITE OF THE BIG TOP ORCHESTRA'S "TEETER BOARD: FOLIES BERGERE (MARCH AND TWO-STEP)") LOUISE: Best wishes to you all, and here's the show. LOUISE: Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I'll still be strumming doggedly away across the pond. LOUISE: It's excruciating but strangely joyful. I'm probably the least musical person in Britain, but now I'm retired, I'm trying to learn the ukulele. LOUISE: Hi, this is Louise (ph) in Manchester, England.
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