Rutgers Public Health Expert Available to Discuss the Impact of Allowing Medicare to Negotiate Drug Prices

Stephen Crystal, a distinguished research professor at Rutgers’ Institute for Health and School of Social Work who has spent decades studying the effect of public policy on health, is available to talk about the impact of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

The following quotes from Crystal are for use in media coverage of the Deficit Reduction Act and its effect on Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices.

• “There is some good news and some not-so-good news on prescription drugs for consumers and taxpayers in the Deficit Reduction Act. The bad news is that price negotiation will start with just 10 drugs — in 2026 — expand by just 15 or 20 drugs a year thereafter and never apply to new drugs. Nevertheless, the law is an important step toward the international norm of public healthcare payers negotiating prices on behalf of consumers and taxpayers. It also discourages real price increases on existing drugs and reduces the maximum that a Medicare patient will have to pay per year for prescription drugs from $3,100 to $2,000.”

• “In short, the bill contains important steps forward for taxpayers and patients, even though some of the teeth of the proposed reforms were pulled in the late stages of the negotiations.” 

To arrange an interview with Crystal, contact Andrew Smith at [email protected].