Most recently, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or IRA, included a number of significant drug pricing reforms, which include the establishment of a drug price negotiation program within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS (beginning in 2026) that requires manufacturers to charge a negotiated “maximum fair price” for certain selected drugs or pay an excise tax for noncompliance, the establishment of rebate payment requirements on manufacturers under Medicare Parts B and D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation (first due in 2023), and a redesign of the Part D benefit, as part of which manufacturers are required to provide discounts on Part D drugs (beginning in 2025).
