Biden puts forth an elaborate — and aggressive — plan to lower drug prices
Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a sweeping health policy platform that includes some of the most aggressive approaches to lowering drug prices any Democratic presidential candidate has proposed to date.
The former vice president would “stand up to abuse of power by prescription drug corporations if elected,” according to his website.
Beyond mainstream Democratic planks like allowing Medicare to negotiate for drug prices, his campaign detailed more aggressive proposals like enacting hard caps on prices for drugs manufactured by a single company.
“Through his work on the Cancer Moonshot, Biden understands that the future of pharmacological interventions is not traditional chemical drugs but specialized biotech drugs that will have little to no competition to keep prices in check,” his campaign said.
Biden’s language regarding Medicare prices was also aggressive.
He called the existing ban on the federal government negotiating with manufacturers an “outrageous exception.”
Democrats have almost universally called for allowing Medicare to negotiate for drug prices directly, and almost succeeded in including such a provision in the Affordable Care Act, which Biden helped push through Congress as vice president.
His other policy planks: allowing drug importation from foreign countries if the government determines they are safe, and capping price increases at the rate of inflation.
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