TAKE CARE: Advocacy Blog Series

President Trump’s Drug Pricing Blueprint

We’re excited to continue our advocacy blog series meant to help youtake carewhen it comes to important arthritis health care and coverage issues. If you are just now tuning into this series, check out our previous blog posts onaccumulator adjustment programs和药剂师gag orders.

This week, read on to learn more about President Trump’s drug pricing blueprint and the different policy areas that the plan addresses.

Why did the Administration decide to release a drug pricing blueprint?

On Friday, May 11 the Administration released its long-awaited plan, “Putting Patients First,” intended to help lower drug prices and reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients. President Trump has spoken at length about the need to tackle prescription drug prices, and the blueprint released last week was an effort to follow through on that promise.

In response to the blueprint, the Arthritis Foundation released a briefstatementon social media, expressing cautious optimism, but urging thoughtful development of proposals going forward.

蓝图的关键组成部分是什么?

The blueprint is focused on four strategies that chiefly affect Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older and certain younger people with disabilities:

Improving competition in the generic drug and biosimilar markets
Improving negotiation strategies for Medicare’s prescription drug program (Part D)
Creating incentives to lower the list prices of drugs
Reducing patient out-of-pocket spending

这些提案涉及到药品供应链中的许多利益相关者，包括制药公司、药房利益管理人员，甚至FDA。许多提案针对关节炎基金会已经参与了一段时间的问题，我们希望这是一个机会，将所有利益相关者聚集在一起，落实真正的解决方案，以帮助患者。

Are any of the proposals good news for the arthritis community?

Yes, we are encouraged by some initial steps offered in the blueprint that may reduce out-of-pocket spending. This includes prohibiting the use of so-called gag orders in Medicare Part D that prevent pharmacists from telling patients when their prescriptions could be cheaper. You can learn more about issues concerning gag orders and clawbacks in the lastTake Careblog post.

Are there any concerns with the proposal?

Some of the ideas proposed in the blueprint have never been tried before and we will be mindful of unintended consequences. One example is moving some physician-administered drugs currently under Medicare Part B (the medical insurance benefit) to the Medicare Part D program, which has a different payment structure. One question we will consider is whether there will be any negative impact to patient access? Patients who are stable on an effective medication should be able to remain on that medication.

What’s next for the blueprint?

The first thing to note is that any of the changes would take time. Most of them would need to go through a formal rule-making process that would allow individual consumers and organizations like the Arthritis Foundation to provide feedback. Some of the blueprint’s proposals would require the Administration to get support from Congress to change existing laws. It is unlikely that all the proposals in the blueprint will become a reality.

5月14日，政府就蓝图中的许多建议发布了一份广泛的信息征询书(RFI)。关节炎基金会正在审查RFI，并将保持您了解的过程展开。

We understand that health care costs continue to be a complex issue for patients and all parts of the health care industry. We will continue to work diligently to identify solutions that put patients first. If you’d like to stay informed of federal and state-based health care issues, considersigning up to be an Advocate. Becoming a part of our Advocacy grassroots network is an easy way to get involved and stay informed.

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