Philo D. Hall, Senior Counsel in the firm’s Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Law360, in “Biden Wants Congress to Set Sights on Cutting Drug Prices,” by Adam Lidgett. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
President Joe Biden is pushing federal lawmakers to come through on a plan to rein in prescription drug prices, including by finding a way to eliminate a prohibition on Medicare's negotiation of drug prices.
In a speech Thursday, Biden asked Congress to address high drug prices, a perennial pocketbook concern for voters.
He highlighted various reforms he wanted, such as doing away with Medicare's inability to haggle over drug prices and punishing drug manufacturers whose products have had price hikes that outpace inflation. …
Much of the details on the drug pricing reforms still needs to be hammered out, and their overall impact remains unclear, according to experts.
Biden left Congress to figure out the specifics on prescription drug price policy, Philo D. Hall, senior counsel at Epstein Becker & Green PC, told Law360 in an email.
"This tactic may be informed by experience that Congress can develop legislation faster without the administration at the negotiating table," he said. "Or, it could be that the administration appreciates the complexity of this issue and does not want to take a political risk of stating exactly how the secretary of [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] should 'negotiate' a 'maximum fair price.'"