Prescription Drugs

• Retirees Applaud HHS Secretary Becerra’s Directive that CMS Reconsider 14% 2022 Medicare Premium Hike

  January 10, 2022: Statement by Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, regarding reports that Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has ordered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C...Read more >

• Biogen Cuts Price for Alzheimer’s Drug Amid Controversy

  January 05, 2022: Facing widespread criticism for the exorbitant cost of its new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, Biogen announced it would cut the price by half, from $56,000 per year to $28,200 per year. Biogen had projected that sales of the drug would generate $12 ...Read more >

• Senate Republicans and Chamber of Commerce Double Down on Opposition to the Build Back Better Act

  December 21, 2021: Last week, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (NY) said that a Senate vote on the Build Back Better Act will not happen this year. The House-passed version of Build Back Better would provide guaranteed hearing care for all Medicare beneficiari...Read more >

• House Oversight Committee: Drug Prices are “Unsustainable, Unjustifiable and Unfair”

  December 13, 2021: The pharmaceutical industry relies on drug-pricing practices that are “unsustainable, unjustified and unfair,” according to findings from a nearly three-year investigation by the House Oversight Committee. The conclusions, released Friday, sho...Read more >

• President Biden Outlines the Ways “Build Back Better” will Lower Drug Prices

  December 13, 2021: President Biden, citing the "outrageously expensive" cost of insulin and other prescription medications, called on Congress last week to pass his Build Back Better bill, which contains multiple provisions to lower drug prices. In his brief remarks...Read more >

• New Report Shows Drug Price Hikes for 7 Medicines Were “Unjustified” and Cost Billions

  November 30, 2021: According to a new report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, prescription drug increases for seven out of 10 medications cost $1.7 billion last year. Researchers also determined that these seven price hikes were “unsupported,” m...Read more >

• House Passes Historic Build Back Act that Lowers Drug Prices, Funds Home Care and Hearing Aids

  November 22, 2021: The House voted 220-213 to pass the Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, Friday morning, sending President Biden’s sweeping plan to invest in middle class families and expand long-awaited social programs to the U.S. Senate. The bill contains numerous ...Read more >

• Retirees Applaud House Passage of Build Back Better Act that Lowers Drug Costs, Funds Home Care, Adds Guaranteed Hearing Benefit to Medicare

  November 19, 2021: Statement by Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, regarding passage of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, in the U.S. House: “The Alliance for Retired Americans applauds the House passage o...Read more >

• Public Opinion Is Unified on Lowering Drug Prices. Why Are Leaders Settling for Less?

  November 18, 2021: Democrats and Republicans are crystal clear in polls that they want government to be allowed to negotiate down high drug prices. Americans pay nearly three times as much for drugs as patients in dozens of other countries. In the past two years, num...Read more >

• Build Back Better Act Clears Procedural Vote in House, Awaits Next Steps

  November 15, 2021: Following the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill on Friday, November 5, Democrats in Congress passed a key procedural vote to set up eventual passage of the Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376, as they worked toward securing commitments from ...Read more >