Prescription Drug Pricing

Prescription drug prices in America are far too high. As a result, 31 percent of Americans can’t afford to take their medications as prescribed. Recent reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act, including Medicare drug price negotiation, are making substantial progress toward lowering prescription drug prices, but there is still much work to do to help Americans afford the medications they need. The Center for American Progress analyzes and advocates for policy solutions to counteract the excessive prices set by pharmaceutical companies, including: advocating for direct price negotiation and price controls, combating manufacturer delay tactics, reforming the patent process, and promoting greater federal oversight and intervention.

Photo shows a closeup of a person's hands opening a bottle of pills, with a blue pill organizer sitting in front of them
A person with multiple sclerosis sorts prescription pills, June 2019. (Getty/Kurt Wittman/UCG/Universal Images Group)
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Lower Costs Through Better Competition Past Event

Lower Costs Through Better Competition

Please join the Center for American Progress for an event featuring FTC Chair Lina Khan and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) about protecting consumers and preserving competition.

1333 H St NW

Industrial Policy To Reduce Prescription Generic Drug Shortages Report
A pharmacy technician standing at a counter pours pills into a blue container.

Industrial Policy To Reduce Prescription Generic Drug Shortages

Policy interventions, including large-scale private-public partnerships, are key to reducing prescription drug shortages and averting patient harm.

Marc Jarsulic

CAP Responds to Request for Information on Consolidation in Health Care Markets Article

CAP Responds to Request for Information on Consolidation in Health Care Markets

The Center for American Progress submitted a response to the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ request for information on consolidation in health care markets.

Natasha Murphy, Nicole Rapfogel, Alexandra Thornton, 3 More Marc Jarsulic, Andrea Ducas, Brian Keyser

State Policy Efforts To Improve Prescription Drug Affordability for Consumers Past Event

State Policy Efforts To Improve Prescription Drug Affordability for Consumers

Join the Center for American Progress for a virtual discussion with state officials on initiatives to lower pharmaceutical costs and improve affordability and access.

Center for American Progress | Online

Monthly Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Savings by State Interactive
Farxiga, Xarelto, Entresto, and Eliquis are made available to customers at the New City Halsted Pharmacy in Chicago.

Monthly Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Savings by State

Medicare drug price negotiation will result in thousands of dollars in net price savings for 30-day supplies of the first 10 drugs undergoing negotiation; here’s how those savings add up state by state.

Nicole Rapfogel

5 Things To Know About Pharmacy Benefit Managers Article

5 Things To Know About Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Pharmacy benefit managers are pharmaceutical middlemen that can inflate prescription drug costs for insurers and consumers.

Nicole Rapfogel

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Briefs Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices Article

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Briefs Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices

These briefs emphasize the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare prescription drug price negotiation program for affordability and health equity.

Sophia Weaver, Marquisha Johns, Andrea Ducas, 3 More Jamie Crooks, Devon Ombres, Ben Olinsky

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Brief Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices Article

CAP Files Amicus Curiae Brief Highlighting Importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in Lowering Drug Prices

This brief, filed by the Center for American Progress and the NAACP in response to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., emphasizes the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare prescription drug price negotiation program for affordability and health equity.

Sophia Weaver, Marquisha Johns, Andrea Ducas

Drug Companies Continue To Hike Prices Above Inflation Article
Bottles of prescription drugs are filled as they move down an automated line at a pharmacy

Drug Companies Continue To Hike Prices Above Inflation

New analysis makes clear that the Inflation Reduction Act’s inflation rebates should extend to the commercial market.

Nicole Rapfogel

In the face of a national drug shortage, the US must bolster its supply chains In the News

In the face of a national drug shortage, the US must bolster its supply chains

Marquisha Johns writes in The Hill why reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Response Act is essential to avoid drug supply chain issues and shortages.

The Hill

Marquisha Johns

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Will Help Millions of Seniors and Improve Health Equity Article
Photo shows three orange prescription drug bottles—one full with the cap off, and two next to it with the caps screwed on—on an assembly line

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Will Help Millions of Seniors and Improve Health Equity

The Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiation provision will improve access to and affordability of medications that help women, Black, Hispanic or Latino, LGBTQI+, and disabled beneficiaries.

Gillian Tisdale, Nicole Rapfogel

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Could Benefit Millions of Seniors Article

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Could Benefit Millions of Seniors

The first 10 drugs negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act are likely to include treatments for chronic conditions—such as diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune disorders—and be used by millions of beneficiaries.

Nicole Rapfogel

Prescription Drug Reform Is a Women’s Economic Security Issue Article
A woman with sickle cell disease poses for a portrait.

Prescription Drug Reform Is a Women’s Economic Security Issue

Lowering the cost of prescription drugs would ensure that women and their families are able to access needed health care while also bolstering their economic security.

Maggie Jo Buchanan, Osub Ahmed

Prescription Drugs Can Be Affordable and Innovative Article
An automated robot arm picks up a bottle of prescription pills, December 2010, in a New Jersey pharmacy plant. (Getty/Stan Honda/AFP)

Prescription Drugs Can Be Affordable and Innovative

Reducing prescription drug prices does not have to come at the price of pharmaceutical innovation.

Gabriela Gutierrez, Thomas Waldrop

Using Bulk Purchasing To Lower Prescription Drug Prices Report
PHOENIX, AZ - DECEMBER 24: An elderly women begins her day taking her daily prescription medicine on December 24, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/ Corbis via Getty Images)

Using Bulk Purchasing To Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Bulk purchasing of prescription drugs would allow federal and state governments to better respond to epidemics—including opioid addiction and HIV/AIDS—and pandemics such as COVID-19.

Thomas Waldrop

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