Medicare proposes limiting growth of drug pricing

NPR reported on Medicare's proposed plans to slow the growth of drug prices. Apparently, Medicare plans to require pharmaceutical manufacturers to repay amounts where prices have increased faster than inflation. Medicare believes it has this authority from the Inflation Reduction Act, along with the power to negotiate pricing for up to ten medications per year for several years.

The article posits that the "inflation refund" regulation will be the subject of one or more lawsuits, similar to how the Affordable Care Act was. Given that Medicare expects to save over $170 billion over the next decade, it is not at all surprising that pharmaceutical manufacturers would explore all legal measures to overturn or at least delay this regulation. Limiting the growth of prices of private good by public regulation does seem unusual in the United States.