White House Hits GOP on ‘Big Pharma Giveaways,’ Says Companies Raised Drug Prices Faster Than Inflation

The Biden Administration is taking aim at congressional Republicans, accusing them of handing out "Big Pharma giveaways" that inflated prescription drug prices, opposed caps on insulin, protected Big Pharma's ability to pay taxes, and took away Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices.

"President [Joe] Biden has taken historic action to reduce prescription drug costs for seniors and for working-age people who get health insurance through their jobs," the White House said in a news release on Thursday. "Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are actively fighting to roll back the reforms the President signed into law and to keep Big Pharma’s taxes low."

The statements come as President Joe Biden will visit the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Washington, D.C., on Thursday where he plans to announce that dozens of pharmaceutical companies will be required to pay Medicare rebates for the "outrageous price hikes" on prescription drugs, the White House announced.

Forty-eight Medicare Part B drugs reportedly raised their prices faster than inflation. To combat this, the president's Inflation Reduction Act, the White House said in a fact sheet, "cracks down" on "exorbitant" price gouging, requiring drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare and ultimately decreasing drug prices for seniors and saving them anywhere between $1 and $2,786 per dose.

"President Biden vowed to lower prescription drug costs for seniors and families – and he is delivering on that promise," the White House said.

The administration says they plan on reject the Republican-led repel of prescription drug inflation because it increases deficits by $7 million a year, costs seniors $5 billion a year, and "gives away" over $10 billion to pharmaceutical companies each year.

With the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden Administration also said they plan to enforce caps on insulin to keep prices low, implement international tax reform proposals so companies can't avoid tax payments, and keep the door open for Medicare to be have the ability to continue negotiating drug costs.

"Republican Chairs and Ranking Members of the committees with jurisdiction over Medicare have publicly committed to repealing this authority, which would allow Big Pharma to go back to charging seniors exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs," the White House said.