Liz Helms, CEO of the Chronic Care Policy Alliance (CCPA), issued the following statement following the release by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) and Guarding U.S. Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs (GUARD) proposed rules:
“While we are aligned with the goal of addressing high prescription medication costs for patients, implementing Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing for Medicare Part B and Part D is the wrong approach. MFN fails to produce sustainable savings while threatening patient access and provider stability. Further, similar measures have been rejected by courts, stakeholders, and, most importantly, patients in the past.
“Since President Trump’s announcement to pursue MFN style pricing, the Administration and drug manufacturers have engaged in good-faith discussions and proceeded with individual negotiations aimed at lowering costs for American consumers. We encourage the Administration to continue with the agreements and pursuing meaningful solutions for patients, rather than pivoting to impose a “one-size-fits-all” pricing framework, which has been shown to not work.
“Government price-setting through MFN is not a sustainable or patient-centered solution. Importing international pricing benchmarks risks importing foreign health technology assessment tools, such as quality-adjusted life year (QALY) thresholds, an unethical process that explicitly devalues the lives of older adults, people with disabilities, and those with chronic illness. These approaches threaten innovation and restrict access to lifesaving therapies.
“We continue to urge for reforms and oversight of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the real middlemen who drive up costs in the system. These policies put patients first by bringing down costs for medications and therapies.
“Put simply, policymakers should reject blunt, coercive pricing schemes that have already failed and instead focus on durable solutions that protect patients, preserve innovation, and address the true drivers of drug costs. Medicare beneficiaries deserve policies that expand access to care, not experiments that repeat past mistakes at their expense,” concluded Helms.