In a new policy proposal, Biden presses Congress to let Medicare negotiate drug prices
President Biden on Thursday took his most concrete action to date on prescription drug prices, calling on Congress to pass a number of long-stalled reforms that include allowing direct price negotiation within Medicare and capping out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors.
In a new document released hours before a planned presidential speech on drug pricing, the White House unveiled its most detailed platform yet — though even now, the document does not include any new ideas for reforming the way Americans pay for medicines. Instead, it includes a number of policies that congressional Democrats, 2020 presidential candidates, and Biden himself have previously endorsed. Its release ends months of speculation about how aggressively the administration would pursue major pharmaceutical industry reforms even as it works closely with drug makers to manufacture and distribute Covid-19 vaccines.
