Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans, 63399-63400 [2022-22834]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 19, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 63399-63400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22834]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2022 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 63399]]


                Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022

                
Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. Too many Americans face challenges 
                paying for prescription drugs. On average, Americans 
                pay two to three times as much as people in other 
                countries for prescription drugs, and one in four 
                Americans who take prescription drugs struggle to 
                afford their medications. Nearly 3 in 10 American 
                adults who take prescription drugs say that they have 
                skipped doses, cut pills in half, or not filled 
                prescriptions due to cost.

                On July 9, 2021, I signed Executive Order 14036 
                (Promoting Competition in the American Economy), which 
                directed various actions in pursuit of my 
                Administration's policy to improve competition, 
                increase wages, and reduce prices for prescription 
                drugs, among other goods and services. In response to 
                Executive Order 14036, the Department of Health and 
                Human Services (HHS) submitted a report to the White 
                House Competition Council calling for bold legislative 
                and administrative actions to lower drug prices.

                On August 16, 2022, I signed Public Law 117-169, 
                commonly referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act of 
                2022 (IRA), which will lower the cost of prescription 
                drugs and save millions of Americans hundreds or 
                thousands of dollars per year. The IRA will protect 
                Medicare beneficiaries from catastrophic drug costs by 
                phasing in a cap for out-of-pocket costs at the 
                pharmacy and establishing a $35 monthly cap per 
                prescription for insulin covered by a Medicare 
                prescription drug plan and insulin delivered through 
                traditional pumps. Starting this January, Medicare 
                beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage will pay 
                $0 out of pocket for recommended adult vaccines 
                (including the shingles vaccine). The IRA will also 
                require certain companies to pay Medicare rebates if 
                they increase the prices of drugs used by Medicare 
                beneficiaries faster than the rate of inflation. In 
                addition, the Secretary of HHS (Secretary) will be able 
                to negotiate prices for selected high-cost prescription 
                drugs for Medicare beneficiaries for the first time 
                ever. Following the passage of the IRA, HHS has taken 
                critical steps to swiftly implement these historic 
                provisions in order to deliver results and lower health 
                care costs for the American people.

                As my Administration works to implement the IRA, it is 
                critical that we take additional actions to complement 
                the IRA and further drive down prescription drug costs. 
                Within HHS, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid 
                Innovation (``Innovation Center'') tests health care 
                payment and delivery models to improve health care 
                quality and make the delivery of health care more 
                efficient. In June 2022, the Innovation Center 
                announced a new model to improve cancer care and lower 
                health care costs for cancer patients, including 
                prescription drug costs. The Innovation Center provides 
                my Administration and the American people with a useful 
                set of tools to help lower health care costs and 
                improve quality of care, and its work can advance the 
                continued policy of my Administration to lower the cost 
                of prescription drugs.

                Sec. 2. HHS Actions. In furtherance of the policy set 
                forth in section 1 of this order, the Secretary shall, 
                consistent with the criteria set out in 42 U.S.C. 
                1315a(b)(2), consider whether to select for testing by 
                the Innovation Center new health care payment and 
                delivery models that would lower

[[Page 63400]]

                drug costs and promote access to innovative drug 
                therapies for beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare 
                and Medicaid programs, including models that may lead 
                to lower cost-sharing for commonly used drugs and 
                support value-based payment that promotes high-quality 
                care. The Secretary shall, not later than 90 days after 
                the date of this order, submit a report to the 
                Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy 
                enumerating and describing any models that the 
                Secretary has selected. The report shall also include 
                the Secretary's plan and timeline to test any such 
                models. Following the submission of the report, the 
                Secretary shall take appropriate actions to test any 
                health care payment and delivery models discussed in 
                the report.

                Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    October 14, 2022.

[FR Doc. 2022-22834
Filed 10-18-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P