Biden to propose expanding Medicare drug price negotiation in State of the Union

WASHINGTON — President Biden wants to more than double the size of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program and will preview the plan in his State of the Union address, the White House announced Wednesday.

While the current program will eventually allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of up to 20 drugs per year, Biden will propose increasing that number to 50, and bringing more drugs into the negotiation process sooner.

The expansion is one of several appeals Biden will make to Congress to build on health care measures to lower prescription drug costs and protect patients from surprise medical bills, the White House said. The policies have little chance of being enacted with a Republican House of Representatives this year.

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