Due to numerous advancements in modern medicine, the number of Americans suffering from preventative diseases and illnesses continues to decrease. However, these advancements have not guaranteed the end of all medical suffering; currently, six in ten Americans live with a chronic disease, and 66% of adults in the United States rely on prescription drugs. Many of these Americans include seniors, who depend on Medicare to afford their life-saving medications. But despite the insurance provided by Medicare, many seniors still struggle with exuberant costs. 

For the past few years, the federal government has been on a journey to combat these struggles and ensure the affordability of medication. On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, giving Medicare the authority to negotiate prices of prescription drugs. Now, instead of passively accepting the costly prices of medications, Medicare would be able to advocate for fair prices on behalf of its beneficiaries. On August 29, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) selected ten commonly prescribed drugs for negotiations, including vital treatments for diabetes and arthritis. The long-awaited negotiations began in February 2024, when the Biden administration sent the initial offers to the drugmakers. The two parties would engage in “good faith, upfront negotiations” until August 1 to reach a fair price. Then, the agreed prices would be made public by September 1, 2024, and come into effect by January 2026. At least, this was the plan.

Companies of the selected drugs include Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Novo Nordisk, and AstraZeneca — all top pharmaceutical companies with high margins of profit. Considering their already-high profits and stated missions to “provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives,” “impact health for humanity,” expand access to medicines, and “positively impact patients,” one would think these companies would gladly partake in expanding access of vital medications to elderly American citizens. Instead, these companies are fighting to keep prices the same and attempting to halt negotiation efforts by filing multiple lawsuits.

This program to negotiate price changes on medication is unprecedented; it has the potential to remove price barriers to innovative, life-saving treatments for Medicare beneficiaries, allowing more seniors to access essential medications. If successful, the negotiations will be a vital step towards affordable medication and potentially a catalyst that inspires further efforts to make American healthcare affordable to those that need it most. However, these billion-dollar companies are prioritizing high profits over the health and lives of American citizens. They argue that this program — which will greatly increase access to life-saving medications — should be halted because it uses “a coercive tactic of extortion” to “force” companies to participate in negotiations. According to these companies, a program with the potential to save millions of lives should be stopped, because the top most profitable and powerful pharmaceutical companies in America are being “coerced” into helping the elderly afford medicine through fair price negotiations.

Medicare price negotiation is not merely a political issue of affordable healthcare; it is an ethical, humanitarian issue of profit being prioritized over human lives. The health of our seniors should not be something pharmaceutical companies can ignore for larger profits. How long must our grandparents, our parents, and in the future, our friends and even ourselves, pay thousands of dollars yearly for relief from arthritis, for cancer treatments, for prevention of heart failure, for these billion-dollar companies to decide they have made enough money? Unfortunately, it seems that this will not be anytime soon. We must continue to advocate for changes in the healthcare system and fight against the greed of companies — the Medicare price negotiation is only the beginning for affordable healthcare.