Another executive order pertains to insulin and epinephrine. It calls on the HHS secretary to require Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs, to make those drugs available at low prices to low-income individuals who don’t have health insurance or have high cost-sharing for those drugs.
More specifically, the order aims to have the FQHCs, which provide primary care in underserved areas, offer the drugs to those individuals “at the discounted price paid by the FQHC grantee or sub-grantee under the 340B Prescription Drug Program” plus a “minimal” fee. The 340B program enables certain entities to buy drugs at discounted prices.
Unfortunately that’s still the case…
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed in 2022, caps out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for Medicare enrollees. The cap took effect in 2023. In response, three drug manufacturers said they planned to reduce the price of insulin to $35 through price caps or savings programs.