Biden’s SOTU Targets Drug Companies, But Misses Opportunity To Challenge Health Insurers And Pharmacy Benefit Managers

In January, drug makers announce increases in list prices of drugs, which can negatively impact … [+] getty President Biden’s State of the Union Address hammered home the point that drug prices must come down. He reminded viewers that he and his Democratic colleagues are doing something about the problem, as he touted the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing provisions. Moreover, the President reproached pharmaceutical companies for making record profits from insulin, adding that he seeks to expand the $35 per month cap on out-of-pocket costs to the entire population, not just Medicare beneficiaries. Furthermore, Biden said his recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act is “taking on powerful interests to bring your healthcare costs down.” Well, that may be true. But, absent from the speech was any mention of health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. In the U.S., multiple stakeholders have created a dysfunctional healthcare system, in which an enormous cost burden is imposed on the patient. The ever-increasing financial hardship for many patients is a function of more than just the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing of drugs. Health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers Spiking health insurance premiums, higher deductibles, more limits on coverage, and rising co-insurance saddle the typical American […]

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