Where VP picks stand on pharmaceutical costs

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/where-vp-picks-stand-on-pharmaceutical-costs.html

JD Vance and Tim Walz, the Republican and Democratic candidates for vice president, respectively, have both voiced support for aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark law that aims to lower prescription drug prices. 

Here are each candidate’s records on rising pharmaceutical costs, which are projected to increase 3.81% by summer 2025, according to Vizient. 

JD Vance

In a 2022 interview with AARP, the Ohio senator expressed support for giving Medicare the authority to negotiate prescription drug prices. That same year, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which grants CMS negotiation powers for a selective number of drugs with no generic or biosimilar competition. 

However, Mr. Vance has criticized the act’s allocation of at least $370 billion over a decade for incentives in wind, solar and other clean energy sources.

“It’s dumb, does nothing for the environment, and will make us all poorer,” he said in a 2022 post on X. 

Mr. Vance has also been vocal on addressing the opioid crisis. In 2016, he founded a charity to address the epidemic, though it shuttered within two years. 

Tim Walz

Two years before the Inflation Reduction Act passed — which he supported — the Minnesota governor signed the Minnesota Prescription Drug Price Transparency Act. The law requires drugmakers to report and provide reasons for significant price increases of prescription drugs to the state health department. 

In June, the state published its first list of 364 drugs from 76 manufacturers that are subject to this law.

Mr. Walz has also advocated for affordable insulin. In 2020, he signed the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act, which ensures eligible individuals in urgent need of the hormone can go to their pharmacy once in a 12-month period and receive a one-time, 30-day supply for a $35 copay. 

Since then, the nation’s largest insulin manufacturers have significantly lowered their prices to about $35 for a month’s supply.

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