Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 – More than 100,000 Coloradans received good news today: the cost of 10 of the most expensive prescriptions that treat life-threatening conditions through Medicare are set to be negotiated down by the Health and Human Services Department.
Rocky Mountain Values lauds the Biden Administration and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) last year, which authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices directly with participating manufacturers for selected drugs that have high spending and are high expenditure, single source drugs.
"I’ve battled cancer for 13 years, which means I have battled high medical costs for that time too. I am grateful to see our representatives in Washington fighting to lower the cost of life-saving medications for people like me. Unfortunately, that does not include the congressional representative for Pueblo, Lauren Boebert, because she voted against Medicare negotiating powers and sided with Big Pharma. Me and my neighbors deserve better. We need Rep. Boebert to fight for lower drug costs," said Jamie Vigil, Pueblo resident and cancer survivor.
Rep. Boebert (CD-03) voted against this cost-saving legislation.
“No thanks to Rep. Lauren Boebert, Coloradans will see lower costs for life-saving prescriptions. Coloradans work hard and need a representative in Congress who works hard to help them earn more and pay less – instead, Congresswoman Boebert sides with big donors from the drug industry against lower costs for Coloradans,” said Justin Lamorte, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Values.
The 10 drugs covered under Part D selected for negotiations are: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, and NovoLog. The prescriptions treat conditions like arthritis, cancer, heart conditions and diabetes. Today, HHS released a report showing that 9 million Medicare Part D enrollees took the drugs covered under Part D selected for negotiation and paid a total of $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for these drugs in 2022.
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