Testing A Hypothesis: Can We Promote Both Innovation And Affordability Of Drugs?

Innovation and affordability should not be considered mutually exclusive goals; stakeholders must commit to promoting both. Public polling has long identified the costs of prescription drugs as a top concern for both Democrats and Republicans. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that about three in ten adults say they haven’t taken their medicine as prescribed due to costs. A more recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only thirty percent of the public believes that President Biden has made progress on lowering prescription drug costs (several of the provisions of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act are just going into effect while others will not be felt for a few years). This makes the recent announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to test new payment models which promote both pharmaceutical access and affordability even more noteworthy.