October 04, 2021

CEOs Against Medicare Price Negotiation Were Paid $400 Million Collectively Last Year

The fight over allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and use the savings to expand guaranteed dental, hearing and vision benefits, continued in earnest on Capitol Hill this week.

Executives from 33 pharmaceutical corporations sent a letter to Congress reiterating their opposition to allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The letter contained numerous falsehoods about the impact of Medicare drug price negotiations and asked Congress to block any legislation that would weaken their monopoly power to set prices.

In response, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, a bipartisan organization fighting for lower drug prices, released new data showing that Big Pharma CEOs were collectively paid $400 million in 2020. The average compensation for the CEOs was $12.5 million, 185 times the average American household income — and 420 times the income of Medicare beneficiaries.

The report also shows that 19 of the 33 companies that wrote to Congress are based in foreign countries, where they charge less than half what they charge Americans for the same drugs.

“Americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and these CEOs are fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “We are doing everything we can to defeat these corporations and get this common sense solution into law. President Biden has made this a priority, and Congress needs to deliver this for the American people.”