Non-profits call for Medicare policy reforms and lower drug prices

Reinstating Medicare rebates would save an estimated $141.2 billion over 10 years, according to a report released by Social Security Works and the Medicare Rights Center. The report outlines policy options to cut costs for Medicare, including restoring Medicare prescription drug rebates and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Part D.

The advocacy groups noted that many strategies lawmakers have proposed to cut Medicare costs involve slashing benefits or shifting costs to beneficiaries, and instead recommended that the federal government secure savings by lowering drug costs. During a conference call with reporters, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) -- who has also called for drug rebates for Medicare enrollees as well as discounts for Part D drugs -- pointed to the emergence of blockbuster HCV drugs like Sovaldi sofosbuvir from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) as a cause for concern and questioned the sustainability of rising prescription drug costs.

Last month, Waxman and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) requested that the House Energy and Commerce Committee hold a hearing to discuss the HCV drug and its costs to seniors, taxpayers, Medicare Part D drug plans and the Medicare program. Sovaldi has a current wholesale acquisition cost of $84,000 for a 12-week course (see BioCentury Extra, June 19).

Other proposals in the report include securing better discounts from manufacturers to close the Part D doughnut hole and promoting cost-effective prescribing of expensive Part B drugs by reducing the percentage at which drugs are reimbursed under the outpatient benefit. The report suggests reducing the benefit to 103% from 106%.

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