shellen whitehouse from rhode island and the issue in this election is corruption and cleaning up our tax code cleaning up other climate policies in keeping somebody who is corrupt out at the oval office. >> hi and the instructor for the -- the youngest member of the delegation in what i think is most important this election is reproductive rights. i want to make my own personal decisions. >> the damaging effects of climate change. i'm looking for a candidate they can deal with that because we don't have a grounded person how can we continue to thrive?

welcome back. joining us is lynn gardner a policy reporter for politico. welcome. thank you for being here today and here's your headline. we are going to put up on the screen. medicare has lower prices for 10 drugs so let's talk about that.

who will be impacted by these negotiations? >> the biden administration is saying that everyone on medicare will be impacted by this. when they made the announcement thursday they expect the initial round of negotiations will give $6 billion to the medicare program and $1.5 billion in savings will be realized by anyone on medicare with prescription drug coverage and that would be just because the expectation that if medicare prescription drug plans are saving money on these drugs they will pass some of those savings on to beneficiaries. >> at 10 drugs. what types of medications were included and whyic did they selt those 10 medications quick this first 10 drugs had to be selected because they are among theg drugs that medicare pays e

most money for. there are lots of other factors that came into play here and we are expecting to hear more from medicare about how when why they made the decisions they made come this spring but we can expect these 10 drugs they were paying the most money for in these drugs cover everything from diabetes, blood clotting drugs and some cancer drugs. you mentioned the top line numbers are pretty big amount but how much will thea average medicare beneficiary save and what factors are going to impact the i amount? >> that's a good question. but we have yet to find out is how this is going to trickle down because the prices that were announced on thursday in the discounts were related to the list price of the drugs but the list price of the drug is not what someone pays that the

rumsey county but you are paying $1500 for a three-month supply. i'm just pulling pulling that member out affair. on top of the list price you have negotiations and discounts that happen behind the scenes and this is proprietaryry information and not something that's open to the public. on top of the list price discounts the administration announced they are going to be more negotiations with these middlemen and that will happen behind the scenes for medicare prescription drug plans and that will own the faith affect what beneficiaries pay for their drugs. >> when could we see those new prices? >> january 1, 2026 so we still have a ways to go for them to be of limited that the administration announced just before the democratic national

convention wanting to highlight this going into the fall campaign season. now the big hurdle for them is going to be publicizing this and trying to make voters understand how this will affect them and remember that when i go to the polls in november. >> we have lauren gardner policy and political reporter from politico joining us for the next 40 minutes or so talking about these drug pricere negotiations. if you have a question or comment calling now. the lines are if you're in the eastern or central timezone (202)748-8000 and mountain or pacific (202)748-8001 and a special line if you are in medicare beneficiary and we want to hear experience in hear from you.

line (202)748-8003. let's talk about the negotiate -- negotiations. whatat don't we know and when cn we find out more information about what information are respecting to come out? >> when it comes to this round of negotiations what we are still waiting to hear is like i mentioned earlier medicare is legally obligated to publish by march 1 an explanation of how they got to the prices they got to. there are still going to be details that they can't divulge because of the proprietary nature of a lot of it but i'm personally very interested to see to what extent they explain how they were able to reach for example, some of these drugs got

a 66% discount on and others was more in the range of 30% so how did that differential come into play is what allowed people are very curious about. >> a and this is the first round but tell us about scheduled timeline for the next set of drugs. >> medicare this fall they will put out even more guidance about how they administered the whole problem -- program. the laws that gave medicare the power didn't give them a lot of time to getwe this going so thee was a lot of hiring and trying to figure this out. even more guidance is coming about how they will approach this next round of negotiations in february 1 is when we are going to get the next list of drugs and that's expected to be august 15 part b drugs so not

anything administered iner a doctor's office or the hospital but drugs that you pick up at the pharmacy counter. >> these new prices, this announcement came in at something that president biden vice president harris were touting this week. i want to play this of president biden talking about it and we'll get yourde reaction. >> in my time in the senate i worked hard to give medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. in fact i reminded my staff today with one of the first bills i worked on was a 1973 but i cosponsored legislation led by senator frank church to let medicare negotiate cost of drugs. 1973 this is going on.

50% less on medicaid because they negotiate the drug prices. they maintained a conservative pricent increases in their prics are -- look this time we finally beat big pharma. [cheers and applause] i was president biden talking about this effort longtime effort to reduce the price of prescription drugs. reminder audience why they weren't able to previously negotiate and what changed? >> right, so when medicare part d was introduced in the early 2000 that was part of the heckling that when i'm on capitol hill was that they would not have the power to negotiate prescription drug prices. this is something the pharmaceutical industry has fought for decades. their argument is that if you

introduce this power to a program like medicare which neither in medicare or medicaid covers -- if that powered this they are not going to make enough money for innovating on the drugs and won't necessarily impact in the fisheries the way in which the administration hoped their argument is also the pharmacy benefit managers and insurance plans are the ones who have impact on impact on how much people are paying for these drugs rather than the drug companies themselves. it's been a very intense lobbying effort and i think a lot of people were surprised two years ago when it passed congress because it's been a pretty steady opposition for a very long time and the political winds just shifted against the pharmaceutical industry.

>> let's bring her body and into the conversation will start with ted in seattle. he is calling on the line for medicare beneficiaries. good morning ted. >> good morning. i would like to ask lauren is both, any president that is selected in 2024 will receive this benefit in 2026? >> well whether the next president continues this i think we can expect vice president harris if she's elected will do this and she has said she wants to expand the benefits of this program beyond medicare to anyone with health insurance in thee industry. it would be a very tall order but the expectation that she would continue this program full stop though ahead. when it comes to president trump that the bigger question mark.

for a republican president had some interesting rhetoric regardingdr prescription drug prices in the pharmaceutical drug that track with his party. much more interested in trying to lower those prices so whether he would continue the program as is or work on it is an open question. >> pauline and pennsylvania good morning pauline. >> is like to ask her one big question. most people who run medicare have advantage plans in these plans some of them cover drugs completely and youdr don't have the have a co-pay. some of us have a co-pay therefore if let's say one drug is reduced by $500 we are saving. it's the insurance companies and the federal government that are

saving. they would have been better had they use the doughnut hole where lot of people people get ahead to pay a higher price so it seems to me a lot of rhetoric for people on medicare already haveve these plans that cover al their medications. how does that benefit us when you say the price of the drug would be cut in half when knowingly we don't pay that. if you didn't take medicare a would help you but if you took medicare, medicare already has the drug coverage and if you take one of the advantage plans which a lott of people don't evn have to pay for that covers your drugs. >> let's get a response from lauren. >> that's a great point. there are all these other factors at play into what beneficiaries are actually paying when they have to pick up these drugs.

when it comes to the doughnut hole next year starting in 2025 is believed the insurance companies are picking up the cost of that coverage gap and that i believe is part of the law that gave medicarels the por to offered these drugs. to your point on co-pays and whatnot that's an open question. how is that going to impact anything like that based on how health insurance works. my co-pay is my co-pay so i think how these effects are going to trickle down to beneficiaries is very much an open question. you are right it saves the plan money and how that translates to the individual beneficiary is what we don't know beyond the estimated $1.5 billion in savings that they have beenad touting.

>> we have a caller on the medicare line. good morning. >> i was just curious who actually handles the negotiations with big pharma? is at the biden administration or congress or who is it that negotiates these prices? >> medicare hired several people to work on these negotiations. the folks who work at medicare have a pharmacist and you have actuaries and policy folks who have been steeped in prescription drug policy for years so many different people have been involved in these negotiations but it happens that the administration level so it's a executive branch. >> in one of your articles nine drug manufacturers of the drugs that were selected also opted into the process to negotiate

under the law but also stated they didn't have much choice. >> that's been a very common for frame from all of these companies. one of the lawsuits i believe termed as a gun to the head that they do not have a choice because if they didn't opt-in the ramifications would be that they pay an excise tax that they called exorbitant on the cost of their drugs and wouldn't be financially feasible or they could pull all of their drugs from the medicare and medicaid market but not the drug that would put on the cushion is that all the company's drugs they would pull off the market and all these companies say you can't do that whether financially and they argue would be a disservice to americans if we did that. that's whywo they say this isn't

much of a negotiation from their point of view. >> michael lind jersey also on the medicare line, good morningr michael. >> hi good morning lauren. several questions which haven't been touched on like price control the impact people and you'll see it shortly was kamala harris but let's talk about drug prices. what's going to happen to research and i won't ask you what's going to happen but but s is what's going to happen. drug companies are going to develop drugs that will be basically focused on the non-medicare market. if they have a choice. for example these weight reduction drugs which are used for dual purposes, weight reduction in diabetes. diabetes is a medicare market and weight reduction is a youth market through the emphasis on the drug company will be on essentially weight reduction and

out of essentially diabetes. that basically means the people who have diabetes will have two-way. the second issue is it's basically the cancer drugs. cancer drugs are developed over period of 10 years. essentially they start out let's just say lung cancer brain cancer this, that in the other thing. whatot lauren hasn't mentioned s this restriction on basically protection for drug companies going way out. what's the short answer to this? later stage indications for cancer patients will not happen because companies will be faced with price negotiations for later stage indications and in of othern the area tertiary areas other than the principle indication.

i think people say they are going to get a free lunch with this but realize essentially when it comes down to research this will have a dramatic impact on people looking for it. >> on your second that assert me something pharmaceutical companies and other allies have beennd talking about that could discourage them from innovating on drugs that areat to exist. oftentimes when a cancer drug is approved it's not the end of thp line. they usually conductti clinical trials to see what other types of cancer that drug could potentially treat. they are concerned the program could have a dampening effect on that. when it comes to diabetes and weight loss drugs first off when it comes to the drugs that everyone knows is ozempic there

are different brand names in different ingredients for these drugsem but generally ozempic te diabetes drug could potentially come up for negotiation in the next round and it remains to be seen butef it could be a contender. weight loss drugs to obesity is a problem across age groups in the united states. once those separately branded drugs get into the time. next on they could be eligible for negotiation. >> to that point there has been reaction from the pharmaceutical industry. they put out this statement yesterday or i'm sorplef tting a price-setting gution is patients will be disappointed when i find that what they means for them. the law did nothing to rein in

abuses by insurance com who ultimately decide what medicines are covered and what patients pay out a pharmacy. there are fewer part payment plans to choose from insurance is going up in the insurance is coveri fewer medicines a they intend to impose further coverage restrictionsthey have implemented 3 million beneficio take medicine with government pricing they will pay more in 2026 but i know we talked about this a little bit. your reaction to that statement? >> right, we don't know where on the formulary which is when you have your insurance and you find out what drugs are covered in what drugs you may have to pay a co-pay or coinsurance on. they are different tiers and typically brand-name drugs that

are more expensive you might get some coverage of but you still pay more money because they are on a certain tier of your formulary. we don't know where these negotiated drugs are going to fall on the formularies for b plans in medicare program have said they are going to be assessing where they end up and make sure they conduct due diligence to make sure there aren't any access issues for beneficiaries. but we don't know how this is going to pan out when it comes to the manifestation of how beneficiaries are able to pay for their drugs. so that still remains to be seen. >> we'll we will hear from ken in pennsylvania. good morning ken raid.

>> i went to get the needles to inject insulin in my co-payy was $55. i have hospitalization so i don't know where you are saving money at because i don't know what you pay if you don't have hospitalization. thank you. >> insulin, that's a big ticket item. there were insulin product products included in the first negotiation roundedti several products. there's alsok. the 35-dollar insulin that has come into play and the 2000-dollar out-of-pocket cost oakland effect for medicare beneficiaries. a lot of things outside of the negotiation programs that will

be our artery are affecting what beneficiaries, what beneficiaries pay over-the-counter what they pay over period of time. >> it to that point this text coming in from lee on x or the tweet cin of the part d max medicare drug plansith for-profit insurance companies contain different formulars and in time out-of-pocket costs ar capped at 2000 what will stop them from dropping the drugs on there for a larry? >> those drugs are required to be covered on the formulary and formularies least in the private market typically change twice a year, january and july and again we are going to see the effects of thists until 2026 so we still have a ways to go. but where they are in the formulary. factories in florida on the line for medicare beneficiaries, good morning theresa.

>> hello c-span and thank you for taking my call. i am a medicare recipient on part d max medicare. i currently am taking eliquis, thent blood thinner and my husbd works. he's 73 and i'm in my 70s andnd he works just to pay for our prescriptions and our food to put on the table which is not very easy these days. i just want to say i think it's unacceptable that our government passed to wait so long to stop these pharmaceutical from prices being so high and to have to wait another year and a half for my eliquis to go down to be of portable. i will be paying several thousand dollars to take my eliquis. i truly believe if trump gets

into office he will make this go a lot faster and get things done.s >> i think you are touching on a point that democrats are thinking aloud about right now which isng how do we emphasize e benefits of this to beneficiaries but also take into account that isn't kicking in right t away and beneficiaries have to wait ath year and a half to see the benefits of this program.ha in terms of what president trump could do if he were reelected that would require an act of congress to speed up the timeline i believe and this got through congress on a partyline vote and i don't anticipate there would be any appetite to reopen this. >> cliff in tulsa oklahoma, good

morning cliff. >> here we mni go again talking about cost per pill. it's too complicated for most seniors like myself. i'm 65 and my wife is almost 70. i opted out the plan b as i can pay for my prescription drugs cheaper by buying them myself but she has one drug gets $28 a pill and we know for a fact it costw them 50 cents a pill to make it. like i said i have the supplement plan for her that keeps this out-of-pocket. the whole thing needs to be renegotiated but i have friends in europe who pay -- and their friends in canada who says we are the laughingstock of the world because we are paying way more and if you go to mexico you get 50% off our 75% off of prescription drugs and a candidate gets 50% off in europe it's almost like dollars for your pillsst instead of 20 or $0 for your pills like in america. we have too many lobbyists and

too many political action committees from the drug companies. we need to take this free enterpriseac out a bit. >> freeke enterprise for 60 yeas on the drug market. >> that this is definitely a point that manyel democrats and even some republicans and like-minded republicans, point they have taken to heart but if you look at what they pay for these formulary drugs in europe is significantly less. the industry argues while americans get benefits because these drugs tend to come to the america market first because it's a more favorable market for them and they can recoup their costs more quickly as opposed to these other countries where they can negotiate over the prices of their drugs and their programs in place tolo lower prices f citizens.

>> i'm from philadelphia the birthplace of democracy in my number one issues gun violence prevention. more young black and brown people are dying from gun violence and we have had in our history. we need to do something this do background checks to ban assault rifles get the supreme court to act but gun violence is number

one. too many people are dying. >> that this is claudia in mind the executive director of the orange county -- of california and we want to support the system that we have. we want to support the persona president. >> i'm from philadelphia pennsylvania. the most important issue this election is the woman's right to to choose but i remember when i was in high school the difference between who became a teenage mom and who didn't was who had -- and that's how those decisions were made. abortion should be safe legal and free.

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