Medicare may be allowed to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs for the first time due to a provision in the proposed Inflation Reduction Act.
Beginning in 2026, ten prescription drugs covered by the Medicare Part D benefit program would be subject to negotiation. By 2029, Medicare will be able to negotiate on the price of 20 Part D drugs. Medicare can only negotiate on the price of drugs that have a high total cost to the federal government, don’t have a generic available and were approved by the FDA for at least the last nine years[1].
Allowing Medicare to negotiate on drug prices is an effort to control the cost of prescriptions which have risen faster than inflation in recent years.
