Getty Images President Donald Trump shakes hands with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar before announcing a plan to overhaul how Medicare pays for certain drugs during a speech at HHS headquarters on Thursday.
President Trump on Thursday unveiled a plan designed to drive down the price Medicare pays for some drugs, responding to public concern over rising health-care costs.
The plan, which Trump unveiled at the Department of Health and Human Services, aims to lower costs for some drugs over five years but could face opposition from the drug industry and health-care providers. It marks a major push by the administration ahead of the midterm elections next month to challenge assertions from Democrats that it has done too little to tackle high drug prices.
Under the proposal laid out Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to issue a proposed rule this spring that, if finalized, would allow the agency to test-drive changes in how it pays for infused and injected drugs administered by physicians.The proposed policy changes would only apply to drugs used in Medicare’s outpatient program known as Part B, and not the most commonly used medicines sold at pharmacies.
An expanded version of this story is available at WSJ.com.
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