Prescription drugs

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Biden administration chooses first 10 drugs for Medicare price negotiations

BY: - August 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — Medicare can now negotiate lower prices for 10 common high-price drugs, cutting out-of-pocket costs for an estimated 9 million seniors and saving taxpayers billions, the Biden administration said Tuesday. Medicare will begin this year to negotiate with the manufacturers of popular medications used to treat blood clots, diabetes, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic […]

Governor Kristi Noem speaks July 12, 2023, during a press conference at a Lewis Drug pharmacy in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Noem pledges action to alleviate prescription drug shortages

BY: - July 12, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — Governor Kristi Noem announced Wednesday the state will create additional stockpiles of prescription drugs to combat shortages.  The Department of Health already has an emergency stockpile of antibiotics in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Noem is expanding that program to five additional cities – Aberdeen, Hot Springs, Mobridge, Pierre and Yankton. And […]

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, participates in a meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on May 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Committee video screenshot)

U.S. senators press pharma executives on cost of insulin, prescription medications

BY: - May 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators sparred with pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers during a Wednesday hearing on the costs of insulin and other prescription medications.  Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the panel and a physician, noted that a century ago a diabetes diagnosis was essentially a death sentence for patients before the […]

COMMENTARY
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Regulatory limits needed to prevent price gouging and ensure availability of medicines

BY: - April 5, 2023

High costs and shortages of pharmaceuticals are serious, ongoing issues. Drug prices in the U.S. are among the highest in the world. A recent survey by the Rand Corporation looked at drug prices in 32 developed countries. U.S. prices were the highest in the group and were more than twice the average of prices in […]

A Publix Super Markets pharmacy manager retrieves a a medication. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Committee approves bill to lower costs for pharmacies

BY: - February 8, 2023

Over 20 pharmacies have closed across South Dakota since 2018. And over 55% of the state’s counties either lack a pharmacy or only have one. The industry is facing a pharmacy technician shortage, and a looming pharmacist shortage. South Dakota pharmacists believe a bill that would provide more transparency in prescription drug pricing by pharmaceutical […]

Sonia Rojas, a pharmacy technician, works in a pharmacy on Dec. 22, 2020. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Here’s when drug prices will start to decrease for Medicare recipients

BY: - December 5, 2022

Starting next month, a $35 cap on insulin prices will go into effect for millions of Medicare recipients. The lower pricing is one of the first of several policy measures Americans will see in the coming months and years under the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in August. The bill also requires pharmaceutical companies […]