What do Biden’s drug price comparisons reveal? Not much

WASHINGTON — The White House is touting just how much its new Medicare negotiation process cut drug prices. The problem is, the numbers it’s using don’t actually mean much.

In a striking side-by-side comparison, President Biden tweeted out a graphic showing newly negotiated prices that Medicare will pay for 10 drugs including blood thinners, cancer treatments, and diabetes medications, among others. The table compares the new prices to the list price of the medicines last year, showing discounts ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. 

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“Medicare has reached agreements with manufacturers of all 10 drugs selected for drug price negotiation. That means the prices of these ten drugs will be cut 40% to 80%,” Biden’s tweet reads. 

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