The Medicare Part D drug program that was adopted during the George W. Bush administration was written for the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry.

It precluded Medicare, unlike the Veterans Administration and other public and private health benefit administrators, from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The results are predictable. Medicare Part D spent $216 billion on 3,500 prescription drugs in 2021.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats passed into law in 2022, finally authorizes Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would save $98.5 billion for taxpayers over 10 years.

Medicare is scheduled to identify the first 10 drugs by Sept. 1. Pharmaceutical companies face steep financial penalties if they decide not to participate by Oct. 1. The new prices themselves would not take effect until 2026.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and pharmaceutical giants including Merck, Johnson & Johnson Bristol Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma have sued, claiming the law is unconstitutional. They have filed separate cases with in multiple federal districts, a strategy designed to ensure that the matter ends up before the business-friendly Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, price projections for new a class of weight-reduction drugs show why price negotiations are crucial. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation Novo Nordisk’s average price for an injection course in the United States is $936. Elsewhere: Japan, $169; Canada, $147; Switzerland, $144; Germany and the Netherlands, $103; Sweden, $96; the United Kingdom, $93; Australia, $87; France, $83.

Taxpayers and consumers need drug-price relief along the lines provided by other countries that regulate drug pricing. The courts should help cure gouging.

— Tribune News Service