Harris seeks to lower drug costs for Pennsylvanians, building on recent progress

Harris wants to expand the $35 monthly cap on insulin costs and a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs to apply to all Americans, not just seniors on Medicare.

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to build on the work she and President Biden have done to lower prescription drug costs if she is elected president in November.

Two of their proposals would specifically expand the policy adopted by the administration in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The law introduced a $35 monthly cap on insulin for Medicare recipients and from 2025 is planned Limit Medicare recipients' out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs to $2,000 per year.

Because of that $35 monthly cap There are now over 80,000 seniors in Pennsylvania on Medicare and using insulin No more than $35 per month will be charged for an insulin prescription. An estimated 829,770 seniors in the state are expected to save $467 a year each because of the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket drug costs, a study says analysis from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Harris wants to expand the $35 monthly insulin cap and the $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs to apply all Americans – not just seniors on Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act also authorized Medicare to do this Negotiate prices for expensive medicines with pharmaceutical companies for the first time. The negotiations that used the power of Medicare to lower drug costs for seniors are expected If they take effect in 2026, they will save taxpayers about $6 billion. The new prices for the first 10 drugs selected will be between 38% and 79% lower than the drugs' list prices last year, saving seniors on Medicare an estimated $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone.

Another 15 drugs are to be selected for negotiations and their prices will fall in 2027, 15 more will follow in 2028, and 20 more in 2029 and every year thereafter.

Harris has suggested On the one hand, this speeds up negotiations and, on the other hand, increases the number of medications that are even eligible for negotiations.

“We capped insulin costs for seniors at $35 per month, capped prescription costs for seniors at $2,000 per year, and gave Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices,” Harris said wrote earlier this month on Facebook. “As president, I will continue to make health care more affordable for working Americans.”

Any of Harris' plans would require congressional approval, which would only be likely if Democrats win control of the House and Senate in November.

Harris also wants to expand the federal government's role in medical debt relief.

The Biden-Harris administration announced last year that it would develop federal rules that would prevent unpaid medical bills from affecting patients' credit scores.

Excluding medical bills from credit reports would help tens of millions of Americans who have medical debt by eliminating information that could harm their credit score and thus make it harder for them to get a job, rent an apartment or get a car loan, for example .

“We believe in a future where the economy works for working people,” Harris said earlier this year. “We’re finally making it so that medical debt can no longer be counted against your credit score.”

Harris has said She plans to work with states Forgive medical debt for millions of Americans if elected.

Harris finally did it praised to increase competition in the pharmaceutical industry, and she wants to begin “taking action against pharmaceutical companies that block competition and abusive practices by pharmaceutical middlemen that reduce the profits of small pharmacies and increase costs for consumers.”