A recent analysis by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review found that AbbVie hiked the price of its immunosuppressive drug, Humira, by nearly 10 percent. Humira already plays an outsized role in American health care spending as one of the nation’s highest revenue generating drugs, raking in $4.6 billion in the third-quarter of 2021 alone. ICER also found that in its analysis of high-grossing drugs, AbbVie did not provide significant evidence to justify its substantial price hike. This is a pattern of AbbVie, which has hiked the price of Humira more than two dozen times and at rates far outpacing inflation. Build Back Better puts a critical check on the relentless greed of drug makers like AbbVie, who prove that the drug pricing reforms in the act are a necessary step to ensuring American families can access the medications they need at prices they can afford.
How Build Back Better Stops Big Pharma From Raising Prices Faster Than The Rate Of Inflation:
Putting An End To Outrageous Price Increases. Build Back Better stops Big Pharma from raising prices faster than the rate of inflation. This cap would apply to all Americans, no matter whether you are insured or not, and no matter what kind of insurance you have, and is essential to stop arbitrary price increases on essential medications. Over the past 20 years, price increases for brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D have risen at more than twice the rate of inflation.
How Build Back Better Will Bring Big Pharma To The Negotiating Table:
Giving Medicare The Power To Negotiate Lower Drug Prices. For nearly 20 years, Medicare has been banned from negotiating the price of prescription drugs, and Big Pharma has been able to dictate prices while Americans pay three times more for their medications than people in other countries. Under Build Back Better, Medicare will be empowered to negotiate prices for select drugs purchased at the pharmacy counter and administered at a doctor’s office. Beginning in 2025, 10 drugs, in addition to insulin, will be negotiated with that number increasing to 15 drugs in 2026, and 20 drugs in 2028 and into the future. By 2030, more than 100 drugs will be eligible for Medicare price negotiation, in addition to insulin products.