Majority of Drugs Selected for Price Negotiation Are on ‘Preferred’ Tiers in Medicare

Major blood thinners are among the first 10 prescription drugs for which the Biden administration will seek lower Medicare prices as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The negotiated prices will be announced on Sept. 1, 2024, and go into effect in 2026.

Medicare beneficiaries who filled prescriptions for the 10 selected drugs paid a total of $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for those therapies in 2022. The Medicare program paid more than $50 billion for the drugs between June 2022 and May 2023, CMS reported. Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis (apixaban) alone accounted for more than $16 billion.

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Jinghong Chen

Jinghong Chen Reporter

Jinghong has been producing infographics and data stories on employer-sponsored insurance, public health insurance programs and prescription drug coverage for AIS Health’s Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits since 2018. She also manages AIS Health’s annual executive compensation database for top insurers and Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates. Before joining AIS Health, she interned at WBEZ, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times Chinese. She graduated from Missouri School of Journalism with a focus on data journalism and international reporting.

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