Wyden and Schumer Urge Trump to Stop Bait-and-Switch Affordability, Release Next Round of Medicare-Negotiated Drug Prices

Wyden and Schumer Urge Trump to Stop Bait-and-Switch Affordability, Release Next Round of Medicare-Negotiated Drug Prices

As Trump Continues to Host Big Pharma Executives in the Oval Office to Tout Detail-Free "Deals," Senators Call on Him to Release Lower Prices That Resulted From Democratic Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Law

Text of the Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and seven Senate Democrats urged Donald Trump to release the list of the most recent Medicare-negotiated drug prices amid a parade of Big Pharma executives arriving at the White House for public events touting ambiguous "deals."

"You continue to host flashy Oval Office press conferences announcing so-called 'historic' drug pricing deals standing beside pharmaceutical company CEOs," the senators wrote in a letter. "We are skeptical, and implore you to release the 2027 Medicare-negotiated prices. This will lay bare the facts: Medicare drug price negotiations meaningfully lowers the price of prescription drugs, unlike your opaque Oval Office announcements."

Americans do not have any details on if or when Trump's handshakes with big pharmaceutical companies will lower their prescription drug prices. In fact, Trump and Republicans' rushed Big Ugly Bill bails out some of the world's bestselling drugs from being included in Medicare negotiations. Thanks to this Republican policy, seniors suffering with illnesses such as cancer will be forced to pay sky-high prices for life-saving drugs.

Seniors and taxpayers will save billions of dollars due to Democrats giving Medicare the long overdue power to lower drug prices in 2022. The 15 Medicare-negotiated drugs that will be lowered in January 2027 include medications like Ozempic and Xtandi. In one-year alone, Medicare has spent more than $40 billion on these 15 drugs. Wyden underscored that the Administration has every opportunity to let seniors and U.S. taxpayers know how much they would save on these 15 drugs.

"Your false promises on drug prices follow the same tired pattern of big talk about lowering costs without delivering. It is time to release the 2027 Medicare-negotiated drug prices so the American people can learn what to expect about their drug costs and see which party's drug pricing policies actually make a difference for their pocketbook," the senators concluded.

The letter is cosigned by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Full text of the letter is here.

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