White House says prescription drug deals will produce billions in savings for taxpayers, seniors

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White House says prescription drug deals will produce billions in savings for taxpayers, seniors

2024-08-16 03:55 Last Updated At：04:01

WASHINGTON (AP) — Taxpayers are expected to save billions after the Biden administration inked deals with pharmaceutical companies to knock down the lists prices for 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs.

But how much older Americans can expect to save when they fill a prescription at their local pharmacy remains unclear, since the list cost isn't the final price people pay.

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden depart after speaking about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden, left, listens as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees listen as President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speak about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden depart after speaking about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - President Joe Biden leaves after speaking about prescription drug costs at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden depart after speaking about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden, left, listens as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attendees listen as President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speak about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden depart after speaking about the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - President Joe Biden leaves after speaking about prescription drug costs at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

After months of negotiations with manufacturers, list prices will be reduced by hundreds — in some cases, thousands — of dollars for 30-day supplies of popular drugs used by millions of people on Medicare, including blood thinners, diabetes drugs and blood cancer medications. The reductions, which range between 38% and 79%, take effect in 2026.

“I've been waiting for this moment for a long long time," President Joe Biden said Thursday, during his first policy-oriented appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris since leaving the presidential race. “We pay more for prescription drugs, it’s not hyperbole, than any advanced nation in the world."

Taxpayers spend more than $50 billion yearly on the 10 drugs, which include popular blood thinners Xarelto and Eliquis and diabetes drugs Jardiance and Januvia.

With the new prices, the administration says savings are expected to total $6 billion for taxpayers and $1.5 billion overall for some of the 67 million people who rely on Medicare. Details on those calculations, however, have not been released. And the White House said it could not provide an average cost-savings for individual Medicare enrollees who use the drugs.

That's because there are a number of factors — from discounts to the coinsurance or copays for the person's Medicare drug plan — that determine the final price a person pays when they pick up their drugs at a pharmacy.

The new drug prices are likely to most benefit people who use one of the negotiated drugs and are enrolled in a Medicare plan with coinsurance that leaves enrollees to pay a percentage of a drug's cost after they've met the deductible, said Tricia Neuman, an executive director at the health policy research nonprofit KFF.

“It is hard to say, exactly, what any enrollee will save because it depends on their particular plan and their coinsurance,” Neuman said. “But for the many people who are in the plans that charge coinsurance, the lower negotiated price should translate directly to lower out-of-pocket costs.”

Those savings won't kick in until 2026. Until then, some Medicare enrollees should see relief from drug prices in a new rule starting next year that caps how much they pay annually on drugs to $2,000.

Vice President Kamala Harris, however, wasted no time Thursday campaigning on the new drug deals, especially since no Republicans supported the law, called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and it barely passed Congress in 2022.

“Two years ago, as vice president, I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote that gave Medicare the power to negotiate,” Harris said to cheering crowds. "In the two years since, we’ve been using this new power to lower the price of life-saving medication.”

Prior to dropping out of the race, Biden had centered his reelection bid around lowering health care and drug costs. But the messaging failed to resonate deeply with Americans, in part because the savings have not had widespread reach.

Powerful drug companies unsuccessfully tried to file lawsuits to stop the negotiations. For years, Medicare had been prohibited from such dealmaking. But the drug companies ended up engaging in the talks, and executives had hinted in recent weeks during earnings calls that they don't expect the new Medicare drug prices to impact their bottom line.

Instead, they warned Thursday that the new law could drive up prices for consumers in other areas. Already, the White House is bracing for a jump in Medicare drug plan premiums next year, in part because of changes under the new law.

“The administration is using the IRA’s price-setting scheme to drive political headlines, but patients will be disappointed when they find out what it means for them,” said Steve Ubl, the president of the lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The criticism is ironic, health law expert Rachel Sachs of Washington University said. Drug companies have typically supported capping the price older Americans pay for drugs because they don't eat the cost — insurers or Americans who pay premiums do.

“It makes it easier for patients to afford their medications. It expands their market. They make more money,” said Sachs, who helped advise the Biden administration on implementation of the law.

— Associated Press writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed.

South and Midwest pounded by rains and floods while still reeling from tornadoes

2025-04-05 10:23 Last Updated At：10:30

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Torrential rains and flash flooding battered parts of the Midwest and South on Friday, killing a boy in Kentucky who was swept away as he walked to catch his school bus. Many communities were left reeling from tornadoes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least seven people earlier this week.

Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S. for days, and forecasters warned that it could persist through Saturday. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lined up like freight trains over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

In Frankfort, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy died in the morning after floodwaters swept him away while he was walking to a school bus stop, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media. Officials said Gabriel Andrews' body was found about a half-mile from where he went missing.

The downtown area of Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a city of 31,000 residents 72 miles (116 kilometers) northwest of Nashville — was submerged. A dozen people were rescued from homes, and dozens of pets were moved away from rising water, a fire official said.

“The main arteries through Hopkinsville are probably 2 feet under water,” Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said earlier.

Tony Kirves and some friends used sandbags and a vacuum to try to hold back rising waters that covered the basement and seeped into the ground floor of his photography business in Hopkinsville. Downtown was “like a lake,” he said.

“We’re holding ground,” he said. “We’re trying to maintain and keep it out the best we can."

A corridor from northeast Texas through Arkansas and into southeast Missouri, which has a population of about 2.3 million, could see clusters of severe thunderstorms late Friday. The National Weather Service’s Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center warned of the potential for intense tornadoes and large hail.

Flash flood emergencies were issued Friday night in at least four cities in southeastern Missouri, according to the NWS. One was in Van Buren, where there were at least 15 water rescues amid heavy rainfall and a rapidly rising Current River, according to Justin Gibbs, weather service meteorologist.

“Unfortunately it’s been as bad as we were expecting it to be," he said.

Heavy rains were expected to continue in parts of Missouri, Kentucky and elsewhere in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods. The weather service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach major flood stage, with extensive flooding of structures, roads and other critical infrastructure possible.

In Christian County, which includes Hopkinsville, 6 to 10 inches (15.2 to 25.4 centimeters) fell since Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service said Friday afternoon. The rain caused the Little River to surge over its banks, and 4 to 8 inches (10.2 to 20.3 centimeters) more could fall by Sunday, it said.

A pet boarding business was under water, forcing rescuers to move dozens of dogs to a local animal shelter, said Gilliam, the county executive. Crews rescued people from four or five vehicles and multiple homes, mostly by boat, said Randy Graham, the emergency management director in Christian County.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen downtown,” Gilliam said.

Hundreds of Kentucky roads were impassable because of floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides, and the number of closures were likely to increase with more rain late Friday and Saturday, Beshear said.

A landslide blocked a nearly 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) stretch of Mary Ingles Highway in the state's north, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. A landslide closed the same section of road in 2019, and it reopened last year, WLWT-TV reported.

Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding in the eastern part of the state.

Extreme flooding across a corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis — which have major cargo hubs — could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

Swollen rivers and tributaries also swamped some parts in Ohio, and Gov. Mike DeWine said about 70 roads were closed. The southern half of the state was expected to see moderate flooding, which has not happened in four years, he added.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. At least 318 tornado warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service since this week’s outbreak began Wednesday.

The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.

At least two reports of observed tornadoes were noted Friday evening in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the National Weather Service.

“TAKE COVER NOW!” the weather service said on X in response to the one on the ground around the small Missouri town of Advance.

Earlier in the week, seven people were killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out,” after it was hit by a tornado with winds estimated by the NWS of up to 160 mph (257 kph). Advance warning of storms likely saved lives as hundreds of people sheltered at a courthouse, the governor said.

In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding.

Bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) sheared roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls and tossed cars into trees.

Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County.

Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia, Obed Lamy in Hopkinsville, John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, and Hallie Golden in Seattlke contributed.