John,

The Biden administration made history when it ended the Bush-era giveaway to Big Pharma, preventing Medicare from negotiating lower prescription drug prices.

Now, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is finalizing its rules around negotiating those drug prices―and Big Pharma lobbyists are trying to water it down as much as possible.

We need to let CMS know that we’re watching. Send an official comment to demand that they lower drug prices as much as possible, without any concessions to Big Pharma!!

Here’s what’s happening: Big Pharma has been exploiting monopoly conditions to jack up prices on lifesaving drugs for decades. If CMS uses the average prices of similar medications as a starting point for negotiations now, we might be able to keep drugs from getting more expensive―but they won’t become affordable.

There are better ways, such as looking at the research and manufacturing costs that went into the medication, that are consistent with the Inflation Reduction Act and would lower prices significantly.

One-third of every Social Security check goes to pay for health care costs, with medication taking the largest share of that. These high drug prices are a de facto Social Security cut.

Use our simple form to tell CMS: Don’t cave to Big Pharma. Let Medicare negotiate truly lower prescription drug prices, don’t lock us into the broken status quo!

Thank you,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works