Pelosi moves on drug prices despite feud

Bill would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription prices

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is plowing ahead with her bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices despite a breakdown in relations with her chief bargaining partner on the issue — President Donald Trump.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the legislation would save Medicare $345 billion over seven years, partly because some seniors would no longer have to skimp on costly medicines, and they’d stay healthier.

A separate estimate from nonpartisan analysts at the Department of Health and Human Services found that households would save $158 billion over 10 years.

But the budget office also cautioned that squeezing drugmakers could mean that some new medications — 3% to 5% — won’t make it to market.

Such trade-offs were front and center Thursday as House committees considered the legislation. The Education and Labor committee voted along party lines to advance the bill, and the Energy and Commerce panel was deliberating. Ways and Means also held a hearing. Democrats and Republicans say Pelosi is moving quickly to get the bill ready for a floor vote.

“These are jaw-dropping savings,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who chairs the health subcommittee of Energy and Commerce. “This is legislation that is going to make a true, tangible difference in the lives of the American people.”

Eshoo said the money could be used to provide dental, vision and hearing benefits for Medicare recipients or could be reinvested in drug research at the National Institutes of Health.

But at another hearing before Ways and Means, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, caustically dubbed the Pelosi bill the “Fewer Cures for Patients Act.” Brady said the budget office finding that one consequence could be fewer drug approvals should be a stop sign for lawmakers.

Although supporters of the legislation note that the CBO said only a small share of new drugs would be affected, Brady said, “One cure lost is one cure too many.”

The legislation from Pelosi, D-Calif., would authorize Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest drugs — including insulin — using lower prices paid in other economically advanced countries as the reference point.