Lowering Prices for Patients by Eliminating Kickbacks to Middlemen
Directs Drug Rebates to Be Passed Through to Patients
What it does
The Department of Health and Human Services must finish rulemaking to stop hidden rebates getting safe-harbor protection and allow discounts at the patient's point-of-sale.
Real-world impact
- Lowers Medicare prescription drug patients' out-of-pocket costs at pharmacies.
- Reduces rebates paid to middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers.
- Requires public confirmation that changes will not raise premiums or federal spending.
Topics
Summary
This order requires the Department of Health and Human Services to finish a rulemaking that would limit protections for drug rebates and create new rules so discounts can be applied at the pharmacy counter.
It affects Medicare patients, insurers, pharmacies, and the middlemen who negotiate drug prices.
The goal is to lower what patients pay at the point of sale by sending negotiated savings to them instead of to intermediaries.
Questions, answered
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- “How does this order change existing policy?”
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