By Bobby Jindal and Charlie Katebi
Prescription drug costs have skyrocketed and become a growing financial burden, but the White House ’s drug price controls will not solve the drug affordability crisis. However, they will threaten the development of future cures and harm patient health .
The Biden administration recently announced the first drugs subject to price controls under the Inflation Reduction Act. Federal bureaucrats will determine what prices pharmaceutical companies can charge Medicare . If companies refuse to “negotiate,” the government threatens an extortionary excise tax of 65% to 95%.
The act’s architects are right to seek to lower drug costs. Since 2000, annual drug costs have tripled from $122 billion to $378 billion. Americans pay more than double what citizens in other developed countries pay. One in 5 seniors skip filling prescriptions because they cannot afford them.