What Impact Will the Election Have on Prescription Drug Prices?

There's not much that politicians from both parties agree on. But one mantra you hear from all: We need to lower prescription drug prices.

Of course, agreeing on solutions is a whole other matter. Many proposed fixes are under consideration, and candidates vary widely on their opinion of them. They also differ on their position on the drug industry itself, which recorded an average annual profit margin of 13.8 percent from 2000 to 2018, almost double that of 357 large nonpharmaceutical industries, according to a new study published in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association.

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"All of us who care about this issue should be only supporting candidates who are willing to stand up to the drug companies and support reforms that will actually lower the prices of prescription drugs,” says David Mitchell, founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs.

Over the past year, AARP has waged a 24/7 campaign, Stop Rx Greed, aimed at lawmakers and government officials from Washington, D.C., to every state capital. The goal is to lower drug prices through five primary actions: allowing Medicare to negotiate prices; keeping price increases at or below the inflation rate; capping annual out-of-pocket costs for medicine; requiring drug-price transparency (that is, companies must explain why they are increasing prices); and making it easier for more generic alternatives to be available.

The impact of the coronavirus

Some progress was being made before the coronavirus outbreak. In December the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. This legislation would direct Medicare to negotiate with drug companies on the price of some medicines, cap annual out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D enrollees and use the savings from those provisions to add basic dental, vision and hearing coverage to the benefits mandated for original Medicare.