Drug Pricing Oversight to Get Prime Focus Under New Congress

Overseeing Medicare’s new authority to negotiate prices of the country’s highest-spending drugs is among the top priorities for lawmakers as Congress returns to Washington.

Democrats did better than expected in the midterm elections, making it less likely Republicans will follow through on threats to repeal components of the Biden administration’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, policy analysts say. But lawmakers and industry groups plan to put pressure on the Medicare agency as it prepares to start negotiating drug prices, including by holding congressional oversight hearings and pursuing clarity on the law’s provisions.

“The industry as a whole is at an inflection ...