Solid Thumbs-Up on CMS Price Negotiation

For years, the notion that the federal government would negotiate the prices that the Medicare program pays for drugs was seen as highly controversial and politically improbable, partly because of the adamant opposition of the pharmaceutical industry. But last year’s Inflation

Reduction Act included provisions that empowered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to negotiate drugs, starting with 10 Part D drugs in 2026.

But the controversy seems to have cooled off considerably, judging by the results of 2023 Annual Managed Healthcare Executive Pharmacy Survey. A very large majority — 88% — of the 311 respondents to the survey indicated that they see CMS price negotiation as a positive development,” and only relatively small minority — 18% — indicated agreement with the statement that “patients will lose out because fewer new drugs will be developed,” which has been one of the key messages about price negotiation from the pharmaceutical industry.

The online survey was conducted Feb. 14-28. The respondents were spread fairly evenly across the various sectors of the U.S. healthcare industry, with 20% self-identifying as working for hospitals, 22% for physician practices, 19% for pharmacy benefit managers, 16% for payer organizations, 13% for drug and device manufacturers and the rest in other sectors.

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