WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants pharmaceutical companies to include the list price of drugs in television advertisements.
The Department of Health and Human Services released a proposed regulation Monday afternoon that, if finalized, would require companies that sell drugs covered by Medicare or Medicaid to put a standard price in their ads, if the price is larger than $35 per month.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar suggested the policy change would help bring down drug prices. The former drug company executive has come under criticism for promoting policies that focus on other parts of the pharmaceutical supply chain while leaving his former employers unscathed.
It would be far more useful in driving consumer costs down if the price disclosed in drug advertising were the negotiated price paid by Medicare or Medicaid. Then employees would ask their HR team or their insurer “Why am I paying three times as much?”
Actually Medicare is forbidden by law from negotiating drug prices. Medicaid doesn’t negotiate either, but they are entitled to the “best price” offered to any other US customer.
I’m down with it — as long as they’re required to run back-to-back with an ad from all the major PBMs, listing the rebates they take off the list price…and how much of that they pocket.
Advertising drug prices won’t do anything to lower drug prices !!!! What doesn’t Mr. Azar and the president get ? Unless there is total transparency with ALL aspects of what the PBM’s do , NOTHING will change !!!!!! This is the reason for,and will always be the reason for high drug prices !