Biden makes lower drug prices a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign

President Biden's Cut Inflation Act allows Medicare to negotiate the price of certain drugs, a change the pharmaceutical industry and medical Republicans have been opposing each other for decades.

As he heads into a re-election campaign next year, President Biden is betting his success in promoting policies designed to reduce health care costs for millions of Americans will be rewarded by voters on the ballot. box.

In speech after speech, Mr. Biden talks about capping the cost of insulin at $35, setting new medical spending limits for the elderly, making some vaccines free and pushing to lower the prices of some of the most expensive drugs in the world.

At the White House, Mr. Biden and his advisers have already begun to elevate the issue as a problem. centerpiece of his agenda. And at his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., his aides are preparing TV ads, talking points and speeches claiming that Mr. Biden's push for lower health care costs stands in stark contrast. with his Republican opponents.

“The president will have a very strong case to make,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a member of the National Campaign Advisory Board of the president. "Not only will people want to keep the benefits they have seen, but they will also want to get the benefits that will be offered to them."

On Tuesday, the White House Party held a announced that the Biden administration would negotiate on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries a price drop on 10 popular – and expensive – drugs used to treat diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

This decision was made possible by the passage last year of Mr. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which for the first time allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors, a change the pharmaceutical industry has opposed for decades.

Republicans also generally oppose granting government the right to bargain drug prices. But candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have said little about drug costs, focusing instead on abortion, transgender medical issues and Covid-related lockdowns.

In his speeches, Mr. Biden lashed out at industry and his Republican opponents in Congress, who all voted against the law that included provisions on prescription drugs. Assistants say it's an effective message.

"Today marks the start of a new deal for patients where big pharma does not 'not just get a blank check at your expense,'" the president said at a White House event celebrating the change.

Since the signing of the law a year ago, Mr. Biden has repeatedly called it one of his greatest legislative victories. But his approval numbers have hardly budged. And while polls show the new policy is highly popular among Americans who are aware of it, they also suggest that far fewer people are aware the change has been made.

This is most likely because prices for the first handful of drugs aren't expected to drop until 2026 at the earliest, assuming Mr. Biden's program survives legal challenges. Drug companies have filed numerous lawsuits against the administration, claiming the law is unconstitutional. The lawsuits could drag on for years.

In its lawsuit against the administration, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry trade group, called the negotiated price plan of “a government mandate disguised as negotiation. ”

Even if Mr. Biden's plan goes into effect, seniors who have made the choice to ration their drugs will have to continue to do so. until more than a year after the 2024 presidential election.

Danny Cottrell, 67, a pharmacist who owns his group of retail pharmacies in Brewton, Alabama, said he regularly counsels his Medicare patients on the ins and outs of the government's prescribing program. He welcomed the changes made by Mr. Biden, but said it would be up to people like him to explain the complicated process.

"I must remind them that it doesn't start until 2026,” Mr. Cot...