A bipartisan list of 26 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter on Tuesday, May 6, to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Mehmet Oz, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, outlining their concerns about the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.
As NCPA has said many times, the letter pointed out that CMS is requiring pharmacies to financially float the program as they must purchase covered drugs at the wholesale price while only being reimbursed the maximum fair price by plans, waiting several weeks for the manufacturers to make them whole. This will result in pharmacies floating thousands of dollars each week and losing tens of thousands of dollars per year altogether at a time when they are already under financial strain from pharmacy benefit managers.
"Pharmacies and patients already are on the edge because of harmful practices by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and the implementation plan for the Negotiation Program threatens to further jeopardize pharmacies' viability. Pharmacies are a critical player in the health care system and are often the first place many Americans seek care. Additional pharmacy closures or service reductions further increase the distance between Americans and their health care. We urge you to work with us to prevent these harms," the letter reads.
The letter was led by Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.). The following 24 members of Congress co-signed: James Comer (R-Ky.), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), John Joyce (R-Penn.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Tom Kean (R-N.J.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Tim Moore (R-N.C.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), French Hill (R-Ark.), Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), and Derek Schmidt (R-Kan.).
The MDPN program will begin Jan. 1, 2026. For a link to NCPA's talking points on the MDPN program, click here. For previous NCPA advocacy on the MDPN program and the IRA, click here.
