{"id":11086,"date":"2023-07-01T15:16:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T15:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11086"},"modified":"2023-07-01T15:16:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T15:16:51","slug":"big-pharmas-legal-fight-to-stop-cheaper-medicare-drugs-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11086","title":{"rendered":"Big Pharma\u2019s legal fight to stop cheaper Medicare drugs, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Later this year, the federal government is supposed to start a serious attempt to rein in drug prices: For the first time, Medicare will negotiate with pharmaceutical companies<\/a> over the prices it\u2019s willing to pay for a short list of drugs. It\u2019s a long-awaited change that is supposed to save the government and patients billions of dollars over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the drug industry is now launching a legal fight aimed at stopping Medicare\u2019s negotiations over prescription drug prices before they begin. The stakes are higher than just a drug price reform: The case could set an important precedent for the government\u2019s authority to try to constrain health care prices.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Merck lawsuit focuses on the Constitution\u2019s takings (or compensation) clause in the Fifth Amendment, which protects private owners from having property taken without \u201cjust compensation\u201d by the government. It also raises First Amendment claims centered on the law\u2019s requirements that drugmakers not disclose information they receive from the government as part of the negotiations. The Chamber of Commerce\u2019s case rests on a constitutional right to due process, arguing that, because the Medicare negotiations are exempt from review by the courts under the IRA, drugmakers are being denied due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, the lawsuits give any judges predisposed to side with private industry over the federal government a few options for a legal foundation upon which to base a decision in pharma\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of legal experts say they are skeptical of these arguments. Merck\u2019s takings clause case turns on defining a patent \u2014 an issuance from the government \u2014 as private property subject to the just compensation clause, said Robin Feldman, a law professor at UCSF, a difficult assertion. She also said the premise present in both cases \u2014 that the federal government as a health care purchaser through Medicare can\u2019t say no to the companies it purchases drugs from and can\u2019t dictate prices as the consumer \u2014 is \u201cproblematic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be that the government as a buyer has to pay whatever a seller wants to charge,\u201d she said. \u201cThat the government could be forced to spend itself into bankruptcy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the chamber\u2019s due process claim, several legal experts have pointed out that Medicare\u2019s various contracts with health care providers are already often generally exempted from judicial review. It is understood that this is necessary to allow the program to function; the government, as the administrator of the program, needs that authority without each of its decisions being subject to litigation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2023\/6\/16\/23760650\/medicare-big-pharma-prescription-drug-prices-lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Later this year, the federal government is supposed to start a serious attempt to rein in drug prices: For the first time, Medicare will negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over the prices it\u2019s willing to pay for a short list of drugs. It\u2019s a long-awaited change that is supposed to save the government and patients billions of dollars over time.
\nBut the drug industry is now launching a legal fight aimed at stopping Medicare\u2019s negotiations over prescription drug prices before they begin. The stakes are higher than just a drug price reform: The case could set an important precedent for the government\u2019s authority to try to constrain health care prices.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The Merck lawsuit focuses on the Constitution\u2019s takings (or compensation) clause in the Fifth Amendment, which protects private owners from having property taken without \u201cjust compensation\u201d by the government. It also raises First Amendment claims centered on the law\u2019s requirements that drugmakers not disclose information they receive from the government as part of the negotiations. The Chamber of Commerce\u2019s case rests on a constitutional right to due process, arguing that, because the Medicare negotiations are exempt from review by the courts under the IRA, drugmakers are being denied due process.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the lawsuits give any judges predisposed to side with private industry over the federal government a few options for a legal foundation upon which to base a decision in pharma\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

A number of legal experts say they are skeptical of these arguments. Merck\u2019s takings clause case turns on defining a patent \u2014 an issuance from the government \u2014 as private property subject to the just compensation clause, said Robin Feldman, a law professor at UCSF, a difficult assertion. She also said the premise present in both cases \u2014 that the federal government as a health care purchaser through Medicare can\u2019t say no to the companies it purchases drugs from and can\u2019t dictate prices as the consumer \u2014 is \u201cproblematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be that the government as a buyer has to pay whatever a seller wants to charge,\u201d she said. \u201cThat the government could be forced to spend itself into bankruptcy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the chamber\u2019s due process claim, several legal experts have pointed out that Medicare\u2019s various contracts with health care providers are already often generally exempted from judicial review. It is understood that this is necessary to allow the program to function; the government, as the administrator of the program, needs that authority without each of its decisions being subject to litigation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[334,73,378,990,75,1407],"class_list":["post-11086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-health-insurance","tag-healthcare","tag-medicare","tag-pharmaceutical","tag-price-of-healthcare","tag-prices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11087,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11086\/revisions\/11087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}