White House Might Be Open to Progressive Drug Price Proposal: Report
Health Care

White House Might Be Open to Progressive Drug Price Proposal: Report

© Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Three top White House advisers suggested for the first time Tuesday that they might be open to a proposal favored by liberals to cap drug price increases. STAT’s Lev Facher and Nicholas Florko report on a closed-door briefing of GOP senators:

“Health secretary Alex Azar joined Joe Grogan, the president’s top policy adviser, to encourage senators to pursue bipartisan legislation on drug pricing and potentially to include one idea from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would cap some drug price hikes at the rate of inflation, according to senators who attended. Multiple lobbyists and an administration spokeswoman told STAT the White House also deployed Eric Ueland, its top congressional liaison, to the meeting.”

The officials’ apparent openness to the inflation indexing is further evidence that the Trump administration has become increasingly reliant on Capitol Hill for a victory on drug costs, Kaiser Health News says — especially after its proposed rule to have drugmakers include prescription prices in TV ads was blocked this week by a federal judge.

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