President Joe Biden asked Congress on Wednesday to pass a series of measures pushing down the costs of prescription drugs.

The president’s proposals include allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of 50 drugs per year instead of the 20 drugs it’s currently allowed to negotiate over, expanding Medicare’s $2,000 annual limit on out-of-pocket drug costs to people with private insurance, and capping the cost-sharing tab for medicare recipients at $2 for prescription drugs.

The White House released the proposals Wednesday, ahead of Thursday’s State of the Union address, where Biden is expected to lay out his economic policy agenda for the next year.

The set of proposals seeks to expand on the cost-lowering measures in the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed in 2022, which included a first-of-its-kind program to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Those negotiations are 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:currently underway, and beneficiaries will begin to see savings in 2026 provided the administration fends off lawsuits by drugmakers.

The proposed $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug🌱 costs for private insurance plans would mirror a benefit that Medicare recipients will get starting in 2025 and which the White House estimates will save seniors an average of $400 a ye🌊ar each.