Employers and their workers have hundreds of billions of dollars at stake in the fight over House Democrats’ drug pricing bill, according to a new West Health Policy Center analysis.
Why it matters: If anyone has the political clout to take on the drug industry, it’s employers.
By the numbers: The House bill could reduce employer health spending by $195 billion between 2023 and 2029, West Health estimates, noting that this is a conservative scenario.
- * Employees could save $61 billion through lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
- * Affordable Care Act market costs could fall by $58 billion.
Details: The bill would allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of some drugs, tie those prices to what other countries pay, and make those prices available in the commercial market.
- * It would also limit drug price increases under Medicare and cap beneficiary out-of-pocket spending.
- * The price negotiation provisions of the bill would save the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated.