President Joe Biden and Democratic Party presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris held a joint event at Prince George's County Community College in Maryland on Aug. 15 to talk about drug cost policy proposals.
Then, Mark Cuban explained his view on why discussions about prices for medications are important and positive in an email exchange with TheStreet.
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The Biden administration, largely through the Inflation Reduction Act, has moved to lower the cost of drug prices.
In the appearance, both Biden and Harris announced some new policies they propose to continue their efforts.
One major element of these policies is that Medicare will negotiate prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
"These negotiated drugs are some of the most expensive and most frequently dispensed drugs in the Medicare program and are used to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer," HHS said in a statement. "The new prices will go into effect for people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2026."
The department wrote that, in retrospect, if the new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion.
“Americans pay too much for their prescription drugs. That makes today’s announcement historic. For the first time ever, Medicare negotiated directly with drug companies and the American people are better off for it,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Mark Cuban weighs in on drug price negotiations
Asked by TheStreet to explain his view, in an email exchange, Cost Plus Drugs co-founder Mark Cuban offered his immediate thoughts on the subject.
"I think anything that brings transparency to drug pricing is a positive," Cuban wrote.
He added a statement about how business owners will have a new way to evaluate the benefits they offer to their workers.
"Now every employer will have a reference price when they negotiate prices with their PBM," Cuban wrote.
More on medicine affordability:
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A pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is a company that facilitates business between health insurance companies and pharmacies to negotiate prescription drug benefits. These include CVS Health (CVS) , Cigna (CI) , UnitedHealth (UNH) and Humana (HUM) .
Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs functions by working directly with drug manufacturers to bypass insurance companies. The price of each drug includes a 15% markup and it transparently displays what it pays for its medicines.
Image source: Shutterstock
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services discusses its drug price plans
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) explained more about what it has done and its future plans in a statement.
"CMS is proud to have negotiated drug prices for people with Medicare for the first time, said its administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. "These negotiations will not only lower the prices of critically important medications for cancer, diabetes, heart failure, and more, but will also save billions of dollars."
"Medicare drug price negotiation and the lower prices announced today demonstrate the commitment of CMS and the Biden-Harris Administration to lower health care and prescription drug costs for Americans," Brooks-LaSure added. "We made a promise to the American people, and today, we are thrilled to share that we have fulfilled that promise."
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The CMS added a hypothetical example.
"A senior with Medicare who takes Stelara pays a 25% coinsurance on the drug which may amount to about $3,400 today for a 30-day supply.," it said. "When the negotiated price goes into effect in 2026, that same 25% coinsurance would cost the beneficiary about $1,100 before the person reaches the catastrophic cap, after which the beneficiary will pay no more out of pocket on their prescription drugs."
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