Employers Fear Higher Drug Prices Without Medicare Protections

Employers that offer health coverage for their workers fear that Medicare drug price reduction provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will lead to drugmakers shifting bigger price increases onto commercial plans in order to make up for lost revenue.

Employers could face higher health costs, and their workers could see increased premiums and out-of-pocket costs, if that happens. That’s on top of missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars in potential savings after the top Senate rules arbiter found that private insurers couldn’t benefit from the price caps and rebate provision in the plan.

Under the legislation passed ...