Drumroll please: Here are Medicare's negotiated prices

Almost exactly two years since the Inflation Reduction Act became law, Medicare announced the results of its first round of drug price negotiations this morning.

The Biden administration released estimates that if the negotiated prices for all 10 drugs had been in effect in 2023, the Medicare program would have saved $6 billion overall, which would have been a 22% reduction in what it paid for those drugs.

But some drugs seemed to fare better than others in the negotiation program. According to academic estimates of net prices, three drugs saw reductions greater than 30%, while one drug saw a reduction of less than 10%. Get the full list here.

exclusive

Do hospitals really lose money on Medicare?

One of hospitals' favorite talking points in Washington is that they have to charge more to patients with insurance through their jobs because Medicare doesn't pay them enough to break even.

Some hospitals are indeed losing money on Medicare, a new report from Third Way found. But more than half make money on Medicare, and one-third make money on even lower Medicaid payments. Most hospitals that did lose money on Medicare lost big, with losses of 10% of their operating margins or greater. The analysis is based on 2022 data.

The analysis also explains dynamics including why some hospitals can make money on Medicare, how much more hospitals charge commercial insurers than their break-even point, and case studies of two hospitals — one that makes money on Medicare, and another that doesn't.

2024 election

JD Vance's new financial disclosure

Until now, the most recent information about Sen. JD Vance's (R-Ohio) venture capital investments was from his 2022 financial disclosure to Congress, which reflected stakes in biotech startups developing new therapies, companies that aim to aid in drug discovery, health data companies, and health tech platforms.

His new disclosure for 2023 was filed Tuesday, and his health care investments have vanished. Vance sold between $1 million and $5 million of his stake in the venture capital firm he founded, Narya Capital Management, on Aug. 30, 2023. The health care companies no longer are listed as assets he holds.

opinion

HHS is 'climate washing' its goals

HHS launched its (still unfunded) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity three years ago this month. But the department and its more recent environmental justice wing aren't tackling their original goals of combatting and reversing climate change's harms, health policy consultant David Introcaso argues in a new STAT First Opinion.

The office set out to protect health by reducing air pollution and greenhouse gasses, as HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at its founding. But in the years since, the agency hasn't followed up with regulatory action to reduce health care industry emissions. It's instead largely focused on efforts to build climate resilience. "As opposed to solving the problem or mitigating carbon emissions, climate resilience or adaptation assumes climate breakdown is unavoidable, a fait accompli," David Introcaso writes. More from him on what 'climate washing' looks like and where HHS stands.

reproductive rights

Poll: Abortion policy still top-of-mind for women voters

About 70% of women in Arizona and Florida — states with abortion access ballots in the works for this fall — want abortion to be legal in all or most cases, according to the latest women's health survey from KFF. Nationally, just over 60% of women say they're worried they or someone close to them might not have access to an abortion needed to preserve their life or health, in line with other national polling.

KFF also found that one in seven women, roughly equal across party affiliations, report having had an abortion.

The latest polling lands one week after GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump told reporters that the issue of abortion rights is "very much tempered down" now that states are deciding their own policies. "Abortion has become much less of an issue. I think it's actually going to be a very small issue," he said last Thursday. Asked by KFF about leaving abortion law up to the states, most women opposed it. Dive into the figures.

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