Will Medicare drug price negotiation quash innovation of new drugs, or allow innovation to continue while also saving seniors from having to stop taking needed medicines or cut their pills in half? That was the focus of a Senate Finance Committee hearing on high prescription drug prices in the Medicare program.
“Medicare negotiation is just that — it’s a negotiation process,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the committee’s chairman, at Wednesday’s hearing. “It’s not some sort of price control. It is a market-based approach to come to a price between a purchaser — Medicare — and a producer, and it’s not setting prices. We’re asking manufacturers to prove their product’s value and earn their keep. That’s what this is about.”
