Summary of Costs and Impact of the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Build Back Better Act

As the House-passed Build Back Better Act moves to the Senate, a new explainer from KFF summarizes the key prescription drug provisions within the broader budget reconciliation bill.

These provisions would lower prescription drug costs paid by people with Medicare and private insurance and curb drug spending by the federal government and private payers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates federal budget savings from the drug pricing provisions would be $297 billion over 10 years. Although the bill passed the House with no Republican votes, the prescription drug proposals have taken shape amidst strong bipartisan support among the public for the government to address high and rising drug prices.

The key prescription drug proposals in the legislation would:

• Allow the federal government to negotiate prices for some high-cost drugs covered under Medicare Part B and Part D;
• Require inflation rebates to limit annual increases in drug prices in Medicare and private insurance;
• Cap out-of-pocket spending for Medicare Part D enrollees and implement other Part D benefit design changes;
• Limit cost sharing for insulin for people with Medicare and private insurance;
• Eliminate cost sharing for adult vaccines covered under Part D, and
• Repeal the Trump Administration’s drug rebate rule.

KFF will continue to track these and other measures as the bill works its way through the Senate. A separate explainer summarizes and analyzes a wider array of the health policy provisions in the budget reconciliation package.

For these and other analyses related to the Build Back Better Act, visit kff.org.