Hundreds of 1199SEIU health workers staged a rally and sat down to block 3rd Avenue where some were arrested. They were protesting health care cuts in Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget for Medicare.
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Medicare said Friday it will allow drug companies to publicly discuss the program’s historic pricing negotiations, removing a confidentiality requirement the industry says violated the First Amendment in lawsuits filed this month.
In the initial guidelines released in March, Medicare had prohibited the industry from disclosing information about the lower price initially offered by the federal government for drugs covered by the program, as well as the government’s reasons for selecting that price .
Medicare had also banned companies from disclosing oral conversations during the negotiation period. It also requires companies to destroy all information within 30 days if the drug is no longer selected for negotiation.
In revised guidelines released Friday, Medicare said a company “may choose, in its sole discretion, to disclose information about ongoing negotiations.”
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, allowed Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug companies for the first time. The program is the central pillar of the Biden administration’s efforts to contain rising drug prices in the US
Merckthe American Chamber of Commerce, Bristol Myers Squibb and the industry lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America this month asked federal courts to declare drug price negotiations unconstitutional.
Merck, the Chamber and Bristol Myers Squibb argued in their lawsuits that Medicare had imposed a gag order that effectively prohibited the companies from publicly disagreeing with the federal government’s position in violation of the First Amendment.
However, the industry’s lawsuits also target broader claims that the program violates due process and the seizure of private property without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.
Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, vowed Friday to continue negotiations despite the lawsuits from the pharmaceutical industry.
“Pharmaceutical companies have been making record profits for decades,” Becerra said in a statement. “Now they are lining up to block this government’s work to negotiate better drug prices for our families.
“We are not deterred,” said Becerra
HHS will release a list of 10 expensive drugs selected for negotiation by September. The following month, the companies must decide whether they want to participate in the negotiations.
Drug makers who choose not to participate risk severe financial penalties. They can avoid these penalties by ending their participation in Medicare and Medicaid drug rebate programs.
The companies have argued that withdrawing from the discount programs is not a viable alternative because the programs account for nearly half of the country’s annual spending on prescription drugs.