Medicare drug pricing regulation advancing despite industry pushback

The Democratic leadership and the White House are trying to convey the sense that passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is inevitable, and the contents, including drug price regulation provisions, are immutable.

With their Senate majority on a knife edge, however, neither proposition is as certain as Democrats would like the public to believe. Their hope is that the Senate Parliamentarian will complete her review of the legislation this weekend and determine that it meets the criteria for enactment under budget reconciliation rules. This would clear a path for formally introducing the bill as early as Monday and passing it before the end of the week — assuming that every Democratic Senator endorses it and is healthy enough to make it to the Capitol building. ...