Article
Federal Negotiations for Medicare Part D Drug Pricing?
The President's budget proposal for 2016 seeks to gain the ability to negotiate drug prices under Medicare Part D, which will definitely face resistance from the Republican-controlled Congress.
The Obama administration said on Monday it would seek authority to negotiate pricing for high-cost drugs under the federal government's Medicare Part D program, which offers private insurance drug coverage for senior citizens and the disabled.
Barack Obama's new $3.99 trillion budget for fiscal-year 2016 proposes allowing the US Secretary for HHS to negotiate prices for biotechnology treatments and other high-cost drugs in Part D "to ensure access to and affordability of these treatments."
The move to add negotiating authority on drug prices is likely to draw fierce resistance in the Republican-controlled Congress. Lawmakers prohibited Medicare from negotiating prices directly with drug companies when it created the voluntary Part D program under former President George W. Bush in 2003.
Link to the complete Reuters article: http://reut.rs/1yw1pgs
