![](\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/4220740eb255f413de5839320cf95583.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAbout 350 residents of the CNMI, who depend on Medicare for their health needs, will be eligible for reduced costs on 10 drugs mostly for diabetes beginning Jan. 1, 2026, according to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Sablan said in his e-kilili newsletter that the Biden-Harris administration announced last week successful completion of negotiations with drug companies, lowering the costs of Januvia, Jardiance, and other high-cost prescription medicines.<\/p>\n
Januvia, a drug for diabetes, has a list price of $527, but the negotiated price is only $113.<\/p>\n
Jardiance, a drug for diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, has a list price of $573, but the negotiated price is only $197.<\/p>\n
The other most expensive drugs are Imbruvica for blood cancers with a list price of $14,934, and Stelara for psioriasis, psoriathic arthritis, Crohn\u2019s disease, and ulcerative colitis with a list price of $13,836.<\/p>\n
The negotiated price for Imbruvica is $9,319, while for Stelara is $4,695.<\/p>\n
The Biden-Harris administration disclosed that it has reached agreement for new, lower prices for all 10 drugs selected for negotiations, that will help lower prescription drug prices for millions of people across America.<\/p>\n
The administration said negotiated drugs are some of the most expensive and most frequently dispensed drugs in the Medicare program and are used to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.<\/p>\n
Sablan said previously, Medicare Part D patients had to pay list price for these, but the Inflation Reduction Act, P.L. 117-169, which President Joseph Biden signed in 2022, finally gave the federal government the power to negotiate prices, just like any other bulk buyer.<\/p>\n
He said prices for 10 drugs will be cut in 2026 and that in 2027, another 15 can be added to the list and 20 per year after that can have costs negotiated and lowered.<\/p>\n
The delegate said the Inflation Reduction Act also capped out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare patients at $2,000 per year no matter how expensive the medicines patients need to stay healthy.<\/p>\n
The six other negotiated drugs are Eliquis for blood clots; Xarelto for blood clots and coronary artery disease; Farxiga for diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease; Entresto for heart failure; Enbrel for arthritis, psoriasis, and psoriathic arthritis; and Fiasp for diabetes.<\/p>\n
Eliquis has a list price of $521, but the negotiated price is $231; Xarelto has a list price of $517 and $197 is the negotiated price; Farxiga has a list price of $556 and $178.50 is the negotiated price; Entresto has a list price of $628 and $295 is the negotiated price; Enbrel has a list price of $7,106 and $2,355 is the negotiated price; and Fiasp has a list price of $495 and $119 is the negotiated price.<\/p>\n
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the announcement that Americans pay too much for their prescription drugs and that for the first time ever, Medicare negotiated directly with drug companies and the American people are better off for it.<\/p>\n
Becerra said congressional budget estimators (Congressional Budget Office) predicted about $100 billion savings over 10 years from drug negotiations and a $3.7 billion savings in the first year alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we\u2019re announcing that in our first year of negotiations we are saving Medicare an estimated $6 billion and Americans who pay out of pocket will be saving another $1.5 billion moving forward,\u201d the secretary said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About 350 residents of the CNMI, who depend on Medicare for their health needs, will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}