Rep. Joe Courtney (D- 2nd District) joins Mike Hydeck to discuss this week’s announcement that Medicare recipients will benefit from lower prices on ten prescription medications starting in 2026. He explains the law change that made it possible and whether more drugs will be added to the list in the future.
Mike Hydeck: So what will the next few months look like with our economy? Will your credit cards or mortgage payments be more affordable soon? Inflation numbers came down below Wall Street expectations this week and money experts think an interest rate cut could come as soon as next month. So are President Biden's policies working like he claimed this week? Joining me now is Congressman Joe Courtney to discuss the bigger picture and at least one of the bright spots. Congressman, welcome back to Face the Facts. We appreciate you. So are we in for a soft landing, like the president claims? And we could possibly see an interest rate cut come soon?
Joe Courtney: I think there will be a cut. If you listen to the Federal Reserve, I mean, we're really now in the red zone, if not the end zone, in terms of their targets for inflation again, and that inflation rate is good news. Doesn't necessarily change the way people feel, because the prices haven't necessarily come down.
Mike Hydeck: Right, we see eggs and bread and gasoline up still high.
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Joe Courtney: So again, that's where the jobs report, I think, is meaningful. Because having a, you know, below 4 percent rate here in Connecticut, and looking again at the wage growth that was included in that report, which actually is higher than the rate of inflation, and that has been the case now for at least the last 12 to 18 months. I mean, people are starting to at least recover their ability to to afford prices that are there. So, I mean, that's pretty close to a soft landing, but I don't think anyone's, to use a football analogy again, spiking the ball in the end zone.
Mike Hydeck: Right, so inflation affects people significantly on fixed incomes. My dad, who's on multiple medications, only gets so much per week. There was some news this week on certain medications coming down, some of the ones that deal with blood pressure and cancers and things like that. How is that going to affect people moving forward? And why just 10? Why not 20?
Joe Courtney: So the law passed in 2022, this took almost 60 years to get the government in a position with Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. It was fought tenaciously by the pharmaceutical industry. And again, Medicare is the biggest insurance program in America, and turning a program like that around is like an aircraft carrier. So they picked the 10 most expensive drugs that have the highest utilization, and again, yesterday, they announced the results, which frankly exceeded the expectations of even its strongest supporters. We're talking 80 percent cut in the list price that Medicare and patients will be paying for. And again, these are highly utilized medications. The next tranche will be 15, and there'll be probably over 100 by 2030. It's a huge change in the system. Health care now, much of it outpatient, depends, you know, prescription drugs are a big piece of it. You know, seniors need it. What we ought to do now is extend it to working age Americans. There's a bill in Congress which I co-sponsor, which is the Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act, again, takes the exact same negotiated result and allows it to be used by employer-based plans.
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Mike Hydeck: Can we, or should we see more transparency in the way of this pricing? If you go to Canada, you get cheaper prices. Mark Cuban started a company to try to bring things more transparency. Other people tried it. Jeff Bezos tried it. Other people tried to get it. Warren Buffett. They bailed on it. How do we do this?
Joe Courtney: Well, certainly, what the new program is, is completely transparent. I mean, the government, you know, has released all the numbers for people, but again, that's for Medicare patients. The pharmacy benefit managers, the PBMs, you know, who negotiate for employer-based plans that is totally non-transparent. But I will just tell you in one of the bright spots of bipartisanship, myself and a Republican from Iowa actually got a bill through the House that actually would force the PBMs negotiated,
Mike Hydeck: The pharmacy benefit managers.
Joe Courtney: Right, to disclose what their fees were, what's the net benefit to the to the payer, which in most cases are employers. This is a pro employer initiative because they're the ones paying the bills when they pay premiums through their employment based plan. So again, it's being fought by the PBMs, who, in many cases are insurance company owned. But I think again, the notion that you're going to oppose transparency for something that is, as you know, important and critical to average Americans. It's just, in my opinion, you know, the politics shows the bipartisan strength for it. It's, they're on a losing end of that.
Mike Hydeck: So I got a little less than a minute. I know you are going to the Convention on Monday. You're close with the vice presidential candidate, but it's about the president. She needs to define herself. Is she going to have an answer for the border? Is she going to have an answer for the economy? Where do we look forward here?
Joe Courtney: Well, again, you got to remember picking Tim was her first act as a president, as a running mate. And again, I served with him on Armed Services, the AG Committee. Know him well. Saw him yesterday in Rhode Island. And I think that the more people get to know about him, I think they're going to feel good, not just about him, but also for the Vice President, because she had, you know, to make that choice. And I think again, it's going to be a very strong message coming out of Chicago.
Mike Hydeck: Congressman Joe Courtney. We have to leave it there. We appreciate your time.
