White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden said Sunday that she’s convinced that the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiation program will be upheld in court.
Speaking on “The Katie Phang Show” on MSNBC, Tanden said, “There is nothing in the Constitution that stops Medicare from negotiating drug prices. We really, we feel very strongly about our ability to win these lawsuits because this is just a basic principle.”
On Tuesday, the federal government announced the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations between Medicare and and pharmaceutical companies, including drugs that treat diabetes, heart failure and blood clots.
But drug makers and trade associations have filed multiple lawsuits challenging the program, which is designed to lower costs for Medicare patients.
“Everybody negotiates prices,” Tanden told Phang. “What the pharmaceutical companies are doing are they’re going to the courts to ensure that they can charge any price they can get away with, and that is wrong.”
Tanden also said she expects the program to be expanded, with 15 or 20 drugs added in future installments.
“It’s really important to remember that for medications that aren’t on this list, they may be on future lists,” she said, noting that “prices have been lowered already for insulin.”