Policy Statement on the Impact of Price Negotiations on Innovation, Healthy Aging and Equity

August 10, 2022

As the CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and a newly formed cross-sector Alliance for Health Innovation, we write to express our deep concern with the current legislation that allows for price “negotiations” in Medicare – a thinly veiled signal for America’s plunge into price controls that will have a devastating and adverse impact on biopharmaceutical innovation and our nations’ ability to support healthy aging. 

As expressed in the piece, Congress Must Support Innovation, Not Pick Winners and Losers, drug price controls for Medicare sends confusing signals to patients, caregivers, and investors on the importance of medical innovation. 

Confoundingly, it is our Medicare population, the fastest growing segment of patients, that is most dependent on innovation to address diseases from HIV, cancer, and cardiovascular disease to osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s.”

Additionally, the legislation itself is peculiarly at odds with the Administration’s renewed Cancer Moonshot initiative, announced as recently as this year’s 2021 State of the Union Address. In that spirit and to ensure limited adverse impact on such future innovation for the health and wellbeing of older adults and all Americans, GCOA and the Alliance for Health Innovation strongly suggest three policy principles accompany any such final legislation that may result in the next days: 

  1. All Medicare “price negotiations” should take place through the screen of its impact on healthy aging & equity. Those administering and overseeing these “price negotiations” must be required to provide to Congress such impact prior to any implementation. Since Medicare will increasingly become a monopsony purchaser as a consequence of the aging of America’s population in our 21st century, the impact will become ever more profound over time and the ensuing responsibilities to show impact ever greater. Healthy aging and equity are impossible without the innovation itself that will enable such patient and caregiver needs. 
  2. HHS & CMS must demonstrate a commitment to transparency & openness in the process for implementing the “Medicare price negotiation” provision. CMS and its parent agency HHS must demonstrate a full commitment to transparency and openness in how it will undertake such a transformational new set of responsibilities. Such transparency is essential so that patients, caregivers, investors, and scientists involved in the biopharmaceutical process across America have a full ability to reflect and communicate the impact it will have on them. CMS has an obligation to ensure open and full dialogue with the ability to partner across society on the impact. 
  3. The legislation should require a report to Congress on the effects of “price negotiations” on innovation, access & equity. Since the prevalence of the diseases of aging increase as 21st-century longevity rises and the fiscal burden grows as the proportion of America’s old outnumbers its young, the economic and fiscal consequences will only be mitigated with a reliable continued flow of new biopharmaceutical innovation. Therefore, any administration of “Medicare price negotiations” must be accompanied by an analysis of the effects on innovation today and in the future. Moreover, such an impact must be done through a full, open, and transparent process that includes society-wide stakeholder input, understood through the lens of equity and healthy aging goals. 

On behalf of GCOA and the Alliance for Health Innovation, we appreciate the ongoing efforts to improve access and affordability for older adults and all Americans and stand ready to work alongside Congress and the Administration to ensure these principles accompany any such final legislation. 

Sincerely,

Michael W. Hodin, PhD 

CEO 

Click here to download PDF of policy statement.

Latest Developments

We keep our members and partners in touch with the most recent updates and opinions in the worldwide dialogue on population longevity and related issues.

2024 AMR Preparedness Index Progress Report Highlights Urgent Need For Global Action Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Today, the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) launched the 2024 AMR Preparedness Index Progress Report. Released in the lead up to the United Nations General Assembly 2024 High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) this September, the 2024 Progress Report assesses how the eleven largest global economies have advanced on calls to action laid out in the 2021 AMR Preparedness Index.

New Global Analysis Across Five Cities Shows Inequities in Adult Immunization Uptake, Signaling Need to Redesign Local and National Policy Interventions

GSK, in collaboration with the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), announced a new report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science (IQVIA Institute). The report, funded by GSK, explores the role of social and structural determinants of health in adult vaccine access and uptake across five global cities with strong data about their aging populations: Bangkok, Thailand; Brussels, Belgium; Chicago, US; Manchester, United Kingdom; and New York City, US.

New Report From the Global Coalition on Aging Highlights the Connection Between Adult Immunization and Economic Health in Aging APEC Region

As leaders from across the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region convene in San Francisco over the next week, a new report from the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) points to investments in healthy aging as a growing economic imperative amid the region’s changing demographics. According to the new report, programs that keep populations healthy, active, and productive – like adult immunization – are increasingly becoming a prerequisite for economic stability and growth.

Menopause, the Silver Economy and Workplace Opportunities

As we recognise World Menopause Day, take a moment to consider the economic power, diverse expertise and skills, and incredible societal contributions of the estimated 1.1 billion post-menopausal women worldwide by 2025—a population on-par with China or India, and dwarfing any other country. Indeed, if we want to fuel the vibrant $15 trillion silver economy, societies, governments, and employers must empower older women in the future of work, including solutions that fight stigma and increase workplace support related to menopause.

Best Practices for Engaging a Multigenerational Workforce

Employers are grappling with a myriad of workforce-related issues ranging from productivity to attracting and retaining talent, but many may be overlooking some seismic shifts that are reshaping the future of work: longevity, population aging, and the multigenerational workforce.

Brazil Must Fight Antibiotic Resistance

The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance is urgent and spares no country - including Brazil. According to The Lancet, 63 deaths per 100,000 are associated with AMR in Brazil and Paraguay, a rate that exceeds the average for Latin America and the Caribbean. AMR-associated deaths in Brazil are second only to cardiovascular diseases and cancers.