White House pitches drug pricing reforms as a way to extend cancer patients’ lives

WASHINGTON — The White House is pitching an added benefit to Democrats’ recent drug pricing reform package: lower cancer death rates.

A new analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers focused on the new law capping Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs for pharmacy drugs at $2,000 per year, starting in 2025. Over 449,000 current Medicare enrollees with a prior cancer diagnosis would save an average of nearly $1,600 per year on prescription drugs because of the out-of-pocket cap. Right now, there’s no limit on patients’ out-of-pocket costs.

The White House is framing the law as a boon to President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, which aims to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. If patients can afford drugs that they couldn’t otherwise, then that could extend patients’ lives, said White House Cancer Moonshot Coordinator Danielle Carnival.

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