A challenge to the novel Medicare drug price negotiation program, created to lower prescription costs, has reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and related groups nationwide are contesting the program as unconstitutional. During the oral arguments in New Orleans, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod noted the singular nature of the program, and the significant power wielded by the government as the major buyer, or monopsony, within the industry.
Andrew Twinamatsiko, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at the O’Neill Institute, puts this challenge in perspective. He observes that it appears to be part of a larger legal strategy to spark a circuit split, thereby escalating the chances of a U.S. Supreme Court review.
An in-depth discussion of the case proceedings and further analysis can be found in this National Law Journal article.