WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration Thursday unveiled a plan to channel now-hidden prescription drug rebates directly to patients, saying it would bypass middlemen and lower prices for consumers.
The proposed regulation from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would eliminate behind-the-scenes discounts among drugmakers, insurers and go-betweens and instead require that they be paid directly to consumers when they buy their medications.
The idea is to do away with a hidden cost seen as contributing to artificially high list prices for prescription drugs. The proposal was co-authored with the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office.
The plan comes as President Donald Trump is under political pressure to deliver results on his repeated promises to slash prescription drug costs. Democrats in Congress want to empower Medicare to directly negotiate prices with drug companies, but Republicans prefer a market-based approach that keeps the government out of setting prices.
The impact for consumers would not be immediate, since the changes would take effect over the next year if all goes according to plan. Also, drugmakers do not currently provide discounts for all their medications.