Biden to sign order seeking to lower prescription drugs cost

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order seeking to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
• The president plans to sign the order on Friday during a trip to California and Oregon for the campaign.
• Critics say the move is the president’s way to champion Democrats’ health policies.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order that will drive federal officials to lower the costs of prescription drugs. The move comes while he is on a pre-election trip to promote the Democratic Party’s health policies, according to an official.

Biden plans to sign the order on Friday. It will push the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to outline how it will use new models of care and payment to slash drug costs within 90 days. The White House official refused to be identified previewing the president’s action, per Reuters.

On Friday, Biden will be on a trip that includes stops in California and Oregon on Saturday. The goal is to project the Democrats as champions of lower healthcare costs ahead of the midterm elections on Nov. 8. Inflation checks as one of the main concerns among voters.

According to data available on Thursday, U.S. consumer prices jumped 8.2% in the 12 months through September. Prices peaked above 9% in the summer and continue to rise at their fastest pace since 1981. Healthcare costs, food and rent were partly to blame in the most recent month.

“Americans are squeezed by the cost of living – that’s been true for years and is a key reason the president ran,” the White House said in a fact sheet that will be released on Friday. “Health care costs in particular are driving inflation,” the statement said, apparently blaming pharmaceutical companies for raising prices.

According to Reuters, HHS was given the power to promote new approaches to lowering costs and expanding care through an Innovation Center, created by a 2010 healthcare reform law known as Obamacare and housed at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Biden signed a $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act in August to authorize the federal government to negotiate prices on some prescription drugs and cap costs for the government’s Medicare health program. 

Medicare has about 65 million Americans enrolled in the programs, which have repeatedly been criticized for their cost to taxpayers.

Source: Reuters