The Medicare Rights Center (Medicare Rights) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulation to Require Drug Pricing Transparency (CMS-4787-P). Medicare Rights is a national, nonprofit organization that works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities through counseling and advocacy, educational programs, and public policy initiatives. Medicare Rights provides services and resources to three million people with Medicare, family caregivers, and professionals each year.
While Medicare Rights appreciates the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) turning its attention to drug pricing, we feel this transparency proposal will have at best little effect, at worst significant negative effect, while making no progress in the real barrier to affordability—high prescription drug prices. People with Medicare struggle to afford drugs not because they are not smart shoppers but because drug prices are astronomical. No amount of savvy comparison shopping can make a $100,000 medication cost $10.
