Bill on Medicare drug prices OK’d

WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Thursday pushed through legislation that would empower Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and offer new benefits for seniors.

The vote along party lines was 230-192.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing and vision, filling major gaps for seniors.

But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat.

Pelosi is claiming bragging rights because her bill would deliver on the promise that President Donald Trump made as a candidate in 2016, when he said he would “negotiate like crazy” to lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients. It’s a pledge that Trump has backed away from as president.

The pharmaceutical industry is opposed to the bill. Among the groups backing it is the AARP.

The central provision of the measure that passed Thursday is its language enabling the federal Health and Human Services Department to negotiate the price of up to 250 commonly used drugs, including insulin. It would also require manufacturers to offer the agreed-on prices to private insurers. And it would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare if the price of their drugs increased faster than inflation.