WASHINGTON, D.C. — The drug corporations that fueled America’s opioid epidemic are trying to get a $4 billion bailout in the fast-moving opioid legislation. According to multiple news reports, Big Pharma is close to inserting language into the opioid package that would roll back drug companies’ share of costs in the Medicare donut hole from 70 percent to 63 percent. This would mean a massive bailout for Big Pharma and higher costs for patients.
Read all about it below:
POLITICO: “A last-minute effort by the drug industry to tuck favorable policy changes into legislation responding to the opioid crisis is meeting health industry resistance…”
AXIOS: “‘Sounds like the size of the fix for pharma could be maybe 2-3x bigger than the opioids funding,’ a House Democratic aide said.”
THE HILL: “Lawmakers are considering adding a provision easing costs on drug companies to an opioid package currently being negotiated. The powerful pharmaceutical industry has been pushing for months…”
STAT NEWS: “Republicans on Capitol Hill are attempting to use a bill to address the opioid crisis to deliver a major victory for the pharmaceutical industry.”
WASHINGTON EXAMINER: “The pharmaceutical lobby is mounting a last-ditch effort to add a measure to an opioid abuse bill that would block an increase to the portion of a drug’s cost the industry must cover under Medicare.”
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