Congressional leaders must resist the drug lobby’s efforts to roll back a discount for prescription drugs that seniors purchase on Medicare, according to a letter from 16 groups that include top drug pricing reform, insurer, and hospital groups.
The groups sent the letter late Tuesday to House and Senate leadership. It calls for Congress to keep a change to Medicare’s drug coverage gap called the “doughnut hole.” The change requires drugmakers to provide drugs in the gap in prescription drug coverage under Medicare Part D at a higher discount.
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“The higher discount will help reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors,” the letter said.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Managers of America, the drug industry’s top lobbying group, has been fervently trying to roll back the change to the “doughnut hole” discount that was inserted into last March’s omnibus that funds the government through the end of this month.
Starting in 2019, pharmaceutical manufacturers must offer a 70 percent discount for drugs they offer in the coverage gap. This is an increase from the planned 50 percent discount.
PhRMA wants to change the discount it must provide from 70 percent to 63 percent. The group sought to add the change to a major legislative effort to combat the opioid crisis.
Several sources told the Washington Examiner that PhRMA was unsuccessful in getting the provision in a House-Senate conference bill on the opioid epidemic that the House could vote on this week. The bill has yet to be released as of late Tuesday.
The lobbying group could still try again later this year.
“We’re urging you to thwart any efforts by the pharmaceutical industry to lower the drug manufacturer discount in the Part D program,” the letter said.
Drug pricing reform groups Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing and Patients for Affordable Drugs were among the groups that signed on to the letter.
The pro-Obamacare group Families USA, AARP, insurance lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the American Hospital Association were also signatories on the letter.
